The Human Roots of Artificial Intelligence

In her insightful book, Susan Schneider explores how AI impacts human identity. Drawing from her argument, I argue that this intertwined relationship between AI and human identity goes both ways. AI is not a separate entity from humans but rather emerges from our cultural practices with profound social implications. I first reject realism about AI – the view of AI as independent from human social and cultural contexts and thereby morally neutral – on the basis that it is a deceptive means of deflecting ethical design responsibility. Realism about AI as a mind-independent object, as opposed to a productof human culture, will reinforce, as opposed to invert and challenge, existing biases on the basis of sociocultural segregation. The paper motivates, instead, realism about self-determination agencies as a means to understand the human roots on the basis of AI and how impacts agencies and shapes identities.