Unscripted or the Familiar Strange: On Anthropology, Tech Failures and AI curiosities

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.