Making Kin with the Machines

Abstract

In this essay, the authors argue that heterogeneous Indigenous perspectives are the best way of approaching Artificial Intelligence’s (AI’s) ‘circle of relationships’ between human and non-human actors. Where AI design is often ‘human-centred’, this essay radically refuses the idea of a separate human species whose priorities trump that of its environment. Instead, it emphasises reciprocal and respectful interspecies relationships. In doing so, it holds feminism to its pledge to contest extractive capitalist logic by reframing AI as ʻĀIna’, or as land but not territory. The essay contests the industry’s emphasis on unfettered growth and scalability by urging for ‘good growth’ based on the knowledges and governing practices of Kānaka Maoli, Cree, and Lakota people.