Indigenous ethics and artificial intelligence

Abstract This article examines Indigenous ethics of reciprocity as a normative and epistemological framework that challenges Western linear conceptions of time, economy, and social relations. Drawing from Marcel Mauss’s theory of the gift and Andean traditions, reciprocity is conceived not as mere exchange but as a vital principle of survival that structures human, communal, and cosmic relations. The acts of giving, receiving, and returning are understood as sacred obligations that guarantee continuity, balance, and mutual recognition across generations. Andean temporality, cyclical and rooted in natural and agricultural rhythms, situates reciprocity beyond economic utility and embeds it within cultural and cosmological orders. Historical encounters, such as colonial Christianity, illustrate the adaptive and inclusive nature of reciprocity, which facilitated intercultural coexistence and survival. Within this horizon, wealth is defined as relational abundance, measured by kinship networks and the capacity to fulfill communal obligations. Practices such as ayni (reciprocal labor), minka (collective work), and randi-randi (generalized reciprocity) embody this ethical system. Reciprocity thus emerges as both epistemology and moral system: a categorical imperative that governs enduring relations among humans, nature, and the cosmos. Returning a gift is not optional but a universal moral principle grounded in respect for Indigenous law, often misunderstood within Western frameworks. Despite growing critiques of Artificial Intelligence, non-Western epistemologies remain excluded. AI redefines truth as technical construction, suppressing subjectivity, dissent, and plurality, while fostering algorithmic obedience that undermines political imagination. The ethics of reciprocity offers a counterpoint, demanding the recovery of relational responsibility as a moral and political principle to guide the development of more just, situated, and human technologies.