Ubuntu Ethos: African Insights for Ethical AI
Updated on 01 September 2023
Ubuntu, a philosophy deeply ingrained in African culture, is widely recognized for establishing harmonious relationships among individuals and communities.1Ubuntu is attracting renewed attention by academia and policy-makers. Here are a few relevant resources https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ubuntu_(philosophy) In the world of technology, Ubuntu is synonymous with the highly popular open-source, Linux-based operating system that has been promoting sharing and community responsibility since its inception in 2004.
But can this ancient wisdom also inspire the development and governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? This blog post delves into the potential role of Ubuntu in shaping AI and underscores the importance of Africa’s voice in digital governance.
Need for stronger digital voices from Africa
Africa is the continent of the digital future. It is a continent with a young population and enormous potential for economic and societal development around emerging technologies. But, when the world talks about digital rules, Africa is often left out. Diplo’s recent study, Stronger digital voices from Africa, provides an in-depth analysis of the continent’s participation in global digital governance.
African countries need individual, institutional, and national capacities for active participation in digital and AI governance on continental and global levels. In particular, as AI rules are shaped for decades to come, they must also reflect the ethics, values, and customs practiced by African communities and citizens in order to be universally relevant. Namely, when AI platforms provide advice to African citizens on family issues, health problems, and searching for jobs, to name a few, they have to reflect the local ethical and cultural milieu.
If these issues are not properly addressed from the outset, the existing digital governance gap is likely to only widen with AI regulation. Without clearly articulated and promoted digital interests of Africa, the world’s AI future will be incomplete and uncertain, burdened by fragmentation and ever-growing misunderstanding that often leads to mistrust and conflicts.
As a comprehensive system of ethno-philosophy, Ubuntu can provide important input to the global AI negotiations by reflecting the continent’s ethos and social wisdom. The first encouraging sign is inclusion of ‘Ubuntu paragraph’ in the UNESCO Recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence (Para 23):
The notion of humans being interconnected is based on the knowledge that every human belongs to a greater whole, which thrives when all its constituent parts are enabled to thrive. Living in peaceful, just and interconnected societies requires an organic, immediate, uncalculated bond of solidarity, characterized by a permanent search for peaceful relations, tending towards care for others and the natural environment in the broadest sense of the term.
What is Ubuntu about?
Ubuntu is frequently defined as a system of thought that embodies the shared worldviews of diverse African communities. Ubuntu has been preserved and transmitted orally through folklore, legends, and proverbs and received renewed relevance as ethical guidelines for South Africa’s transformation from apartheid to majority rule.
At the core of Ubuntu’s wisdom is the idea that the collective—whether a community, society, or humanity—takes precedence over the individual, as summarised by Desmond Tutu:
‘A person is a person through other person. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human.’
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By stressing that we are ‘self through others’, Ubuntu’s underlying view is that our identities and worldviews are mainly shaped through interactions with others. High relevance of communities was summarised by African thinker John Samuel Pobee who rephrased the famous Descartes phrase ‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think therefore I am) into Cognatus ergo sum (I am related by blood, therefore, I exist).2Pobee, J.S. 1979. Towards an African Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
The main attributes and meanings, as described in the table below,3Ubuntu Management Philosophy: Exporting Ancient African Wisdom Into the Global World, Knowres Pub., 2005, p 175 Read more: https://books.google.ch/books/about/Ubuntu_Management_Philosophy.html?id=3VruAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y inspire individuals to act for the collective good.
| Ubuntu attribute | Ubuntu meaning |
| Universal | Global, intercultural brotherhood |
| Behaviour | Human (humane), caring, sharing, respect, compassion (love, appreciation) |
| United | Solidarity, community, bond, and family |
| Negotiation | Consensus, democracy |
| Tolerance | Patience, diplomacy |
| Understanding | Empathy (forgiveness, kindness) |
By being human-centred Ubuntu is often considered a part of the African humanism concept, which is seen as analogous to the Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, but with the major difference of emphasising the position of the person in the community, i.e. the collective, while European humanism focuses on the individual mainly. as such.
Ubuntu and AI
Ubuntu’s relevance for AI governance could be in three main fields: epistemology (ways of knowing), ethics (distinguishing good from bad), and governance (making decisions and resolving conflicts).
Ubuntu epistemology
Community is a source of knowledge and a way of learning in Ubuntu epistemology as described by Mogobe Ramose
‘the African tree of knowledge stems from ubuntu philosophy. Thus, ubuntu is a wellspring that flows within African notions of existence and epistemology, in which the two constitute a wholeness and oneness.’4Ramose, M.B. 1999. African Philosophy through Ubuntu. Harare: Mond Books.
As developed and validated by the community, knowledge represents the common good in Ubuntu. This role is analogous to epistemic communities in policymaking and science, where peers validate individual insights. Ubuntu’s idea of knowledge as a commons could inspire a way to prevent the capture of knowledge by AI companies that have the technical capabilities to distil, centralise, and commercialise public and shared knowledge.
The first push against the practice of knowledge capture by AI comes from copyright holders in media,5News and media companies published open letter call to negotiate use of their content by AI companies for development of Large Language Models. Read more here: https://dig.watch/updates/news-media-leaders-advocate-for-fair-content-treatment-in-ai-development publishing,68000 writers signed open letter calling for protection of their texts from capturing by AI platforms. Read more here: https://dig.watch/updates/open-letter-to-tech-giants-authors-seek-fair-compensation-for-ai-training film,7Hollywood writers strike over artificial intelligence use in scripts. Read more here: https://dig.watch/updates/hollywood-writers-strike-over-the-use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-scriptwriting and visual8Getty Images files for an injunction against Stability AI, accusing the AI company of copyright infringement by using Getty’s images to train its Stable Diffusion. Read more here: https://dig.watch/updates/getty-images-seeks-injunction-to-protect-copyright-against-stability-ai industries. Yet, very little is done to protect knowledge as a public good developed through the contributions of humans historically and currently. In predominantly African oral culture, traditional knowledge in the form of storytelling, folk traditions, and myths should continue to be treated and protected as common good in the AI era.
Ubuntu ethics
Ubuntu ethics are built around respect for other human beings, with the community serving as the source and custodian of ethical rules. In most African cultures, respect for the elderly expresses their role as fountains of moral wisdom.
Ubuntu ethics focus on how we can support one another and what we can do to help the collective. It encourages understanding, forgiveness, and reconciliation, thereby promoting societal harmony over individual interests.
Like in the ‘ethical mirror’, if we undermine the humanity and dignity of others, we dehumanise ourselves.
In the digital realm, this element of Ubuntu ethics could be particularly important in dealing with increasingly toxic exchanges on social media platforms.
Likewise, Ubuntu’s restorative justice, which focuses on repairing harm and reconciliation instead of punitive measures, could also contribute to dealing with the growing number of conflicts and divisions in the digital field.
Ubuntu governance
The proverb ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’ summarises Ubuntu’s participatory decision-making. Ubuntu governance supports a bottom-up, consensual, and subsidiarity approach to making community decisions. Such an approach can ensure that AI developments serve the interests of many, not just a few who have advanced knowledge or resources in the AI field.
Translated to the digital world, Ubuntu’s inclusive governance concept can be used to prevent rushing into AI decisions without considering political, security, economic, and ethical impacts.
Parting thoughts
As illustrated above, Ubuntu offers relevant insights on harmonising technology, particularly AI, with our core humanity.
Drawing from this entho-philosophy that emphasises collective well-being, mutual respect, and interconnectedness, Ubuntu can be a unique African contribution to the development of AI’s ethical, epistemological, and governance aspects.
At the same time, it can also serve as a reminder that the journey of AI is not only about codes and algorithms but also, maybe even more importantly, about humanity’s shared stories, values, and aspirations.
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