Off-centre AI : on alignment, antihumanism and AI ethics

Fazi, M. Beatrice (author)

This article examines the legacies of antihumanism within the context of artificial in-telligence (AI) research. In response to the ethical risks inherent to the proliferation of quasi-autonomous computational agents, the AI industry, legislative bodies and academia often advocate for a “human-centred” approach that would align AI with human values, desires and goals, ostensibly to make these technologies more transpar-ent and trustworthy. The rhetoric of human-centred AI reveals many of the conceptual limitations that antihumanism had already identified in the foundationalist and sub-jectivist assumptions of Western philosophy. This article considers some of these chal-lenging limitations while also problematizing antihumanism itself. Through Derrida’s notion of “centre” and an analysis of alignment methodologies, the article demon-strates how attempts to decentre the human often reconstitute new forms of authority. It then examines the possibility of surpassing standard anthropocentric approaches in AI while maintaining a critical philosophical engagement with the structurally neces-sary yet precarious character of organizing principles.

• Language: English
• Keywords: artificial inteligence, ethics, alignment, anthropocentrism, decentring, human-centred artificial inteligence, theoretical antihumanism
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 10.07.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 127-140
• Numbering: Letn. 20, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185002
• UDC: 316.74:004.8
• ISSN on article: 1854-9632
• DOI: 10.4312/ars.20.1.127-140
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285308419
• Publication date in RUL: 20.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ars & humanitas : revija za umetnost in humanistiko
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 1854-9632
• COBISS.SI-ID: 233246720

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Ta članek preučuje dediščine antihumanizma v kontekstu raziskovanja umetne inte-ligence (UI). Kot odgovor na etična tveganja, povezana s širjenjem kvaziavtonomnih računalniških agentov, se industrija UI, zakonodajna telesa in akademski svet pogosto zavzemajo za »na človeka osredotočen« pristop, ki bi UI uskladil s človeškimi vredno-tami, željami in cilji, domnevno zato, da bi te tehnologije postale bolj pregledne in za-upanja vredne. Retorika o UI, osredotočeni na človeka, razkriva številne konceptualne omejitve, ki jih je antihumanizem že opredelil v esencialističnih in subjektivističnih predpostavkah zahodne filozofije. Ta članek obravnava nekatere od teh kočljivih ome-jitev, hkrati pa problematizira sam antihumanizem. Z Derridajevim pojmom »sredi-šča« in analizo metodologij usklajevanja članek prikazuje, kako poskusi decentriranja človeka pogosto vzpostavijo nove oblike avtoritete. Nato preučuje možnost preseganja standardnih antropocentričnih pristopov v UI, hkrati pa ohranja kritično filozofsko soočenost s strukturno nujnim, vendar negotovim značajem organizacijskih načel.

• Keywords: etika, umetna inteligenca, usklajenost, antropocentrizem, decentriranje, osredotočena umetna inteligenca, človek, teoretični antihumanizem