Digitalisation or dependency?

Sri Lanka’s Al dilemma beyond AKD’s binary

- By Dr. Jayalath Bandara Adikarige

President Anura Kumara Disanayake has cast digital transformation as a stark binary: either embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and modernise, or be “pushed to the margins” of the global economy.

His appeal identifies inefficiency, stagnation, and weak public services as consequences of past inaction. This rhetoric mirrors global leaders who treat Al as a “pillar” of competitiveness and a survival imperative.

Yet such framing is both motivational and reductionist. It risks presenting digitalisation as a technological silver bullet, obscuring the deeper questions of sovereignty, governance, and inequality that must shape SriLanka’s pathway.

Adam Becker cautions against equating AI with an autonomous “brain” destined to rebel against humanity. The metaphor of AI as a computer like mind is flawed, he argues, and “existential risk” talk distracts from tangible, present day harms¹.

Applied to Sri Lanka, Becker’s insight affirms AKD’s focus on practical adoption rather than sci-fi apocalypse. But it also warns against over investment in hype: when policymakers believe AI to be omnipotent, they risk neglecting systemic risks such as bias, inequity, and monopolistic dependency.

Tf digitalisation proceeds without safeguards, the consequences could be profound:

™Bias and discrimination in welfare or education systems.

Reliability failures, with AI “hallucinations” producing false outputs.

Opacity, as citizens cannot appeal decisions made by black box systems.

™=Data privacy gaps, risking surveillance or foreign capture of personal information.

Misinformation and manipulation, with deepfakes fuelling polarisation.