Introduction to Ubuntu Collectivism Theory Applied to AI Ethics

Justice, inclusivity and solidarity, can we consider these to be universal values?

These are some of the main values in the Sub-Saharan African philosophy of Ubuntu, which clarifies many of the core ethics that we find across cultures, such as the age-old golden rule: do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. In essence, it is seeing one’s humanity in the humanity of others. (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 2) 

In order to work in a values-first manner, Ubuntu can be useful for informing artificial intelligence (AI) ethics, with an emphasis on inclusivity which is key for AI principles and guidelines that are universally applied. (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 1) Sub-Saharan Africa has historically been excluded from the benefits of past industrial revolutions, as “... its people and their resources and aspirations have been objectified through slavery, colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism.” (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 2) Could Ubuntu inform AI ethics in an effort to create a more inclusive future?

One of the core principles of Ubuntu is: “Umu-Ntu ngumu-Ntu nga ba-Ntu” – A person is a person through other persons. What this means is that how one relates to others is interconnected with one’s personhood and measure of ethics. Under this notion, relationality is emphasized, and the successes and failures of individuals are equally the successes and failures of the community. (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 15-16)

 The way that ethics is measured in Ubuntu is through how a person relates to others as well as to the environment and all other independent parts. Ubuntu can be described as relational personhood, where relationality means accepting the interconnectedness of others while recognizing their individuality, and generally the connection of people, nature, and the spiritual. (Mhlambi, 2022, p. 13) We could take the classic saying about raising children, that it takes a village, as opposed to individual family units as found in Western cultures. This is a practical example of Ubuntu. One would not ignore a misbehaving child, any nearby adult would reprimand them, as opposed to Western cultures where this would never happen. Another example from an Ubuntu proverb states that you would not walk by a house being built without lending a hand. (“Wadlula ngendl’isakhiwa kayibeka qaza” He passed by a hut being built and did not tie a knot) (Mhlambi, 2022, p. 14)

When someone is acting ethically, they are said to “have Ubuntu” or considered “unoBuntu.” Someone acting unethically, by only considering themselves and being distant or unhelpful to others, is thought to not have Ubuntu, or be “akala ubu-Ntu.” If the word Ubuntu is broken down, “Ubu” stands for “a state of being and becoming” and “Ntu” in essence means “the idea of a continuous being or becoming a person oriented towards cosmic unity and creative purpose.” (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 13-14)

The question is, what can we learn from Ubuntu when thinking through ethics for AI? This type of relational ethics is important to consider when we think about ethics in AI because of how such powerful technology affects people and the world around us. This brings up a lot of questions. How does AI affect people and the world, and why is it important to have a relational type of ethics for AI? Also, how do values in different parts of the world play a role in relational ethical AI development?

AI is shaped by the dominant economic, political, and social inequalities fueled by neocolonial thought and resulting in assaults on human dignity. This can be countered by postcolonial African philosophy when creating AI. (Mhlambi, 2020) Greater inclusion and diversity in global discourse on AI ethics is non-negotiable, and we should be collecting the best tools we can to achieve this. Ubuntu is especially helpful for the inclusion of African voices. (Gwagwa, 2021) (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 5) The importance of collective identity in the struggles of African peoples is stressed by Africanist scholars, (Hall, 2012) (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 5) and this must be considered ongoing as technology affects everyone globally. 

“Postcolonial African philosophy’s relevance to the ethics of artificial intelligence is that, as a response to the traumatic encounter between the African world and European modernity, it puts in clear view modernity’s dependency on marginalization and exposes the weaponization of rationality veiled as moral benevolence." (Eze, 1997) (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 6) By starting from a point of relationality, things that are ultimately harmful to fellow human beings and the world around us cannot be rationalized. 

A unanimous consensus was reached at the UN Global Pulse in Ghana and Tunisia (Pizzi & Romanoff, 2020), which was that the mistakes of the Global North regarding the development of technologies could be a lesson for Africa to learn from and not repeat: first, formulate a set of values to guide technology, as opposed to thinking of values as an afterthought. “Africans advocated for the need for human control of technology and the promotion of human values, something which has been reactionary rather than proactive in global principles.” (Fjeld & Nagy, 2020) (Gwagwa, 2022 p. 4)

By linking one person’s personhood to the personhood of others, Ubuntu reconciles ethical limitations of rationality as personhood. One cannot be rational when one is only considering oneself. “Rationality is not an individual product or endeavor of a consistent formal system but is a result of interconnected consistent formal systems. Rationality is thus a product of relationality.” (Mhlambi, 2020 p. 3)

Can computers understand relationality? Computers have difficulty around social contexts, particularly racial and gender norms, and automated systems that have access to all of this data end up perpetuating racism and gender stereotypes because the data cannot interpret itself, nevermind be informative on how to respond to and avoid moral dilemmas. (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 4)

Automated decision making systems (ADMS) have five general critiques that are in direct violation of Ubuntu. As listed by Mhlambi (2020, p. 8) these critiques include:

1) the exclusion of marginalized communities and their interests in the design, development, decision making, and funding of ADMS

2) biases resulting in the selection of features in ADMS and biases entrenched in the data that generate these systems

3) power asymmetries worsened by the use of ADMS

4) dehumanization that occurs from the commodification of our digital selves

5) the centralization of the resources and power necessary in designing and using ADMS. (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 8)

Solutions would start by correcting these violations at a fundamental level, and at all points throughout AI, machine learning and ADMS development, production, use and application. 

Here is a list of suggestions from Sabelo Mhlambi that would include the values of Ubuntu going forward:

1) Address the harms to climate change which much of ADMS relies on via cloud computing. (Greenpeace, 2010)

2) Normalize the eradication of inequality through the participation of the most disenfranchised at the start of creating technology.

3) Use data which powers ADMS for public good.

4) Make data publicly available whilst protecting privacy and promoting societal wellbeing.

5) Treat community data as intellectual property, with the ability to be licensed or revoked from online platforms. 

6) Fund and provide access to technical skill sets for the most disenfranchised. 

7) Allow users to directly shape the way they receive recommendations from algorithms. 

8) Tailor technology companies’ recommendations according to agreed upon social ideals which are based on human dignity and social cohesion. (Mhlambi,  2020 p. 25)

Ubuntu is just one representation of non-Western ethics that decentralizes individualism and recenters the importance of relationality and inclusion. It is sometimes difficult to understand when we have been so overexposed to individualism and the rationality that comes from putting the individual above all else. However, by looking for ethical systems outside of the Western world, perhaps the development of technology that affects everyone could benefit more than just the few, and break cycles of colonialism for good. 

Resources

Eze, Emmanuel Chukwudi. Postcolonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997.

Fjeld, J., and Nagy, A. (2020). Principled Artificial Intelligence: mapping

consensur in ethical and rights-based appraiches to principles for AI.

https://cyber.harvard.edu/publication/2020/principled-ai.

Greenpeace. “Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and Its Contribution to Climate Change.” 2010.

Gwagwa, A.E. (2021). Africa’s contribution to an intercultural reflective turn

in the ethics of technology in the era of disruption. https://www.academia.

edu/51050494/Africas_contribution_to_an_intercultural_reflective_turn_

in_the_ethics_of_te

Gwagwa, A., Kazim, E., & Hilliard, A. (2022). The role of the African value of Ubuntu in global AI inclusion discourse: A normative ethics perspective. In Patterns (Vol. 3, Issue 4). Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2022.100462

Mhlambi, S., & School, H. K. (2020). Sabelo Mhlambi Carr Center Discussion Paper Ubuntu as an Ethical & Human Rights Framework for Artificial Intelligence Governance Technology and Human Rights Fellow Carr Center for Human Rights Policy From Rationality to Relationality: Ubuntu as an Ethical and Human Rights Framework for Artificial Intelligence Governance.

Pizzi, M., and Romanoff, M. (2020). Governance of AI in Global Pulse’s policy work: zooming in on human rights and ethical frameworks. https://www.

unglobalpulse.org/2020/12/governance-of-ai-in-global-pulses-policywork-zooming-in-on-human-rights-and-ethical-frameworks/.