Kampong Ethics

Our analysis begins with the proposal that the kampong (village) spirit of solidarity, woven into the Asian community identity, can redirect the collaborative applications of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics formulations to maximize AI governance for social good. Accepting Cotterrell’s vision of community as social relationships of trust, we argue that locating AI within communities (and thereby the decision-making process underpinning AI design and regulation) creates life-spaces that foster harmonious AI-human coexistence. By rejecting mainstream notions that monolithic/universalist ethical frameworks (often imported from the Western knowledge sphere) can address the ethical priorities of diverse communities across the world, this analysis further argues the “Asian” mode of decision-making and governance is not one specific operation, but whichever that can effectively stimulate and maintain shared trust in the recipient communities. In this analysis, kampong ethics bridges perceived/actual differences in people across external divides, in order to stimulate closer ties of cooperation for diverse communities to collaboratively formulate how to co-exist in harmony with each other and with the tools we create for each other.