This paper raises more questions than it either answers or explores. It purports to respond to the question of the paper’s title, but at the outset the author informs us that “As a historian concerned with the humanities, I had only a layperson’s untutored fascination for the technological miracle which artificial intelligence has brought about. . . .” Furthermore, in the last sentence of the first paragraph we are informed that “votaries of artificial intelligence express confidence in their ability to transfer the latest European technology to non-European societies for purposes of social engineering, irrespective of wide cultural differences.”

As no reference is given, it is impossible to determine who these votaries are, nor are efforts to transfer artificial intelligence (AI) technology for purposes of social engineering known, at least to me. It is clear, however, that AI is being used by the author to bludgeon the West once again for attempting to impose its policies on the Third World. Indeed, Western science is praised for its successes, while at the same time it is chastised for being oblivious to the fact that “there is no universality of human needs.” A discussion of culture, cultural relativism, and imperialism follows, which, while interesting in its own right, does nothing to illuminate the aforementioned question.

Given that the author admits to a layperson’s knowledge of AI, there are no examples given of how AI is being used in the Third World. So the discussion about the West’s lack of concern or interest in the culture of much of the world is really independent of AI. To criticize AI for not taking culture into account when it has barely begun to go beyond a variety of other more obvious limitations is hardly fair. By all means be critical of the West for its past and current views and for its treatment of the Third World, but surely dragging AI into this process is gratuitous, at least for the present.