Dams Without Foundations

Segal's beaver-dam metaphor for AI governance calls for institutional structures that redirect the flow of AI capability toward human flourishing. Toyama accepts the call and adds the question it does not answer: who builds the dams, with what resources, on whose behalf? The history of technology governance is a history of dams built by the powerful for the powerful — protecting their own pools of still water while the river flows unimpeded through communities without the capacity to build their own dams. The EU AI Act protects European citizens; the student in Dhaka is not covered. Corporate AI governance frameworks protect company interests; users and third parties outside the company are not represented. Every dam is a real intervention; every dam is also bounded by the jurisdiction and interest of its builder; and the cumulative landscape of dams favors those who were already favored before the dams were built.