Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Human Relationships

In this interdisciplinary collection, contributors explore how Ubuntu and other African ethical and philosophical frameworks can shape human relationships in the age of artificial intelligence.

How can Ubuntu and other African ethical and philosophical frameworks shape human relationships in the age of artificial intelligence?

Contributing to the global discourses on artificial intelligence (AI), this collection edited by Beatrice Okyere-Manu and Stephen Nkansah Morgan explores the multiple ways AI is changing the ways humans connect, care for one another, and live together in a variety of African contexts. While global debates on AI often centralize Western perspectives, this book highlights selected African philosophical principles—such as ubuntu, relational ethics, solidarity, and communalism—and asks how technology and the integration of AI reshapes future relationships across African societies.

Integrating interdisciplinary scholarship across philosophy, theology, education, gender studies, and data ethics, the collection combines conceptual analysis with empirical insights to show how AI is experienced, resisted, and reimagined in African contexts. AI raises important questions about social cohesion, community life, and interdependence, questions that certain African moral frameworks that prioritize care, solidarity, and mutual responsibility are uniquely posed to address. Relational ethics serves as a guiding lens to navigate the ethical, social, and relational dimensions of AI.

By focusing on both critique and forward-looking ethical guidance, the book envisions culturally grounded approaches to AI development that promote human flourishing, social justice, and the sustainability of communal values in the digital age.