Broadening AI Ethics Narratives: An Indic Art View

Non-Western perspectives are underrepresented in AI ethics discourse. The paper found that most existing work examining arts and AI ethics focuses on digital artworks and Western contexts, highlighting a significant gap in incorporating diverse cultural and historical narratives from traditions like Indian arts into AI ethics frameworks.

Ancient art traditions offer practical ethical lessons for modern AI. Through interviews with 16 artists and scholars across Indian art forms (music, dance, sculpture, painting, etc.), the researchers identified that non-Western ethical abstractions and participatory practices embedded in these traditions can provide valuable guidance for developing more ethical AI systems.

Empathy should be a core component of AI algorithms. The study's analysis of the Natyashastra (Indian dance system) revealed that incorporating empathy into ethical AI algorithms is a key pathway toward more responsible AI systems—suggesting that emotional and human-centered values deserve a place in technical AI design.

AI systems need to process multiple types of data, not just text. The research recommends integrating multimodal data formats (combining different forms like visual, auditory, and kinesthetic information) into ethical AI system design, reflecting how traditional arts engage multiple senses and ways of knowing.

Interdisciplinary collaboration across arts and technology is essential. The paper demonstrates that arts can serve as a bridge between research communities, suggesting that responsible AI development requires genuine partnership with artists, humanists, and cultural scholars—not just technologists.