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African OBSERVATORY
FOR RESPONSIBLE
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
April 30, 2025
In “Unscripted or the Familiar Strange,” the author recounts experiences at the 2024 IUAES/WAU Congress, reflecting on how anthropologists engage with artificial intelligence amid technological disruptions and conceptual distance. The article explores key misconceptions—such as AI being a singular or abstract force—and emphasizes that AI is deeply shaped by human decisions, power dynamics, and social contexts. Using ChatGPT as a springboard, it challenges the mythologizing of AI and advocates for a more grounded, nuanced understanding rooted in anthropological methods. The piece ends by urging anthropologists to claim space in AI conversations, overcome imposter syndrome, and assert their relevance in shaping the future of technology through culturally informed critiques and inquiry.
This reflective article offers a personal and critical account of the intersections between anthropology and artificial intelligence (AI), as explored during the IUAES/WAU Congress in Johannesburg. Through the lens of a digital anthropologist, it interrogates the persistent divide between social sciences and AI discourse, shedding light on fears, misconceptions, and the mystification of AI technologies. Drawing from a disrupted plenary session and subsequent open dialogue, the article explores how anthropologists can contribute unique, grounded perspectives to AI development, emphasizing the social, political, and cultural dimensions of technology. It calls for anthropologists to actively engage in AI spaces, not despite, but because of their methodological tools of reflexivity and contextualization, and advocates for overcoming imposter syndrome to bridge these seemingly distant worlds.
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