The Algorithmic Identity Crisis

by Mishaal Shetty

“JanSaathi", a Gen AI system introduced in 2025, aimed to simplify government service delivery for tribal communities in central India. The system used voice interfaces and regional languages to help citizens access welfare schemes, healthcare, and education.

The system's initial success in improving service delivery masked a deeper transformation. The AI's need for standardized data led to subtle pressures on tribal communities to "formalize" their traditional practices and identities. Traditional naming conventions, family structures, and occupation categories that didn't fit the AI's classification system were gradually altered to conform to mainstream categories.

By 2027, while service delivery improved, anthropologists noted how tribal youth increasingly presented their identities in AI-compatible ways. Traditional social structures began shifting as the AI's understanding of family units and social relationships became the de facto standard for accessing services.

The end state in 2028 revealed a complex trade-off: while tribal communities gained better access to government services, they experienced an accelerated erosion of traditional social systems and identity markers. The AI, designed to include marginalized communities, inadvertently became a force for cultural homogenization.