Xenomorphy: becoming alien with AI

Alien encounters produce a collision of worlds, where divergent lifeforms, carrying unique physical, cognitive, and epistemic capabilities, come into contact. They force humans to reconcile with a new reality, where existing worldviews are challenged, and the possibilities of civilisations redefined. Using this image as its entry point, this paper offers a reconceptualisation of human–AI relations, in which AI is understood as a producer of alien knowledge. An alternative concept to anthropomorphism is proposed, which moves beyond the projection of human traits onto machines, to focus instead on the divergent powers of human and machine cognition. The concept, xenomorphy, describes a process of alien metamorphosis brought into motion when the power of AI's alien knowledge is recognised and embraced. By nurturing AI, by pushing its inhuman powers to their limits, the human itself takes on an alien form. Not only does this shift established worldviews, but it sets forth a process of augmentation, through which humans, machines, and the planet within which they are embedded, enter a co-evolutionary state. Although xenomorphy does not guarantee a pathway towards planetary harmony, it produces new modes of knowledge that enable the protection of both human and nonhuman life. As AI makes possible such insights, it becomes ever more pressing to contest and evolve the current sociotechnical infrastructures, to ensure they are being steered from acts of violence and repression, and guided towards more harmonious ends.