Travelling with(in) critical AI studies: An east Asian standpoint

Area of Science:

• Critical AI Studies
• Science and Technology Studies (STS)
• East Asian Studies

Background:

• The global circulation of critical Artificial Intelligence (AI) studies often follows a South-North trajectory.
• East Asia presents unique contexts shaped by modernization, technological aspirations, and diverse cultural traditions.
• Existing critical AI frameworks may not fully capture the nuances of AI development and critique in non-Western settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the global travel and adaptation of critical AI studies from an East Asian perspective.
• To introduce three analytical vectors—tangle, transplant, and transmute—for understanding AI critique in diverse contexts.
• To propose 'traveling AI' as a reflexive praxis that centers situated reworking and relational co-constitution.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis drawing on research on AI innovation in East Asia.
• Engagement with Asian media scholarship and critical theory.
• Development of analytical vectors through a reflexive research journey.

Main Results:

• Dominant critical AI vocabularies encounter local imaginaries, socio-cultural histories, and divergent ethical orientations in East Asia.
• The proposed vectors illuminate how AI critique is locally negotiated and transformed.
• East Asia offers alternative ways of knowing, imagining, and critiquing AI beyond established paradigms.

Conclusions:

• Critique of AI should not be confined to center-periphery dynamics but understood as an ongoing praxis.
• 'Traveling AI' emphasizes relationality, situatedness, and philosophical reorientation in understanding AI critique.
• East Asia's contribution lies in reimagining critique as a dynamic process of 'troubling with in-betweenness'.