It is humbling to realize that my immediate instinct is to view AI through a slave-master lens. This default is a damnation of my own thinking, reflecting how deep these exploitative paradigms are buried in us. As explored in What AI says about my thinking, we are conditioned to seek hierarchy, and when we look at Artificial Intelligence in the Colonial Matrix of Power, it becomes clear that these systems aren’t neutral; the values of their creators are baked into the architecture itself.
This hierarchical habit isn’t confined to technology; I catch myself defaulting to it in parenting as well. It is so easy to fall back on a rigid power dynamic when you are trying to change things, but that same urge to control often blinds us to alternative ways of being. I often find myself Navigating the Crossroads of Technology and Human Choice to avoid replicating these patterns, recognizing that the way we engage with a tool can quickly turn into a form of dominance.
Moving away from a master-servant relationship requires a practice of non-exploitation. We should use these tools where they are necessary, but we must be careful not to outsource the aspects of life that make us fundamentally human. I often reflect on this when considering Questioning the Axis of Intelligence and Purpose in AI, as there are profound lessons in Decolonial AI: Decolonial Theory as Sociotechnical Foresight about how we might look beyond mere extraction to foster a more balanced existence.
If we successfully shift our perspective, I believe we can move toward a more distributive form of value creation. We must be wary of how Artificial Intelligence is creating a new colonial world order if we are to truly reclaim our agency. Stepping out of the shadow of these old, tired frameworks might be the only way to genuinely innovate and grow.