Decolonial AI Alignment: Viśesadharma, Argument, and Artistic Expression

Prior work has explicated the coloniality of artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment. One process that that work has not engaged with much is alignment: the tuning of large language model (LLM) behavior to be in line with desired values based on fine-grained human feedback. In addition to other practices, colonialism has a history of altering the beliefs and values of colonized peoples; this history is recapitulated in current LLM alignment practices. We suggest that AI alignment be decolonialized using three proposals: (a) changing the base moral philosophy from Western philosophy to dharma, (b) permitting traditions of argument and pluralism in alignment technologies, and (c) expanding the epistemology of values beyond instructions or commandments given in natural language.