Toward a Cultural Co-Genesis of AI Ethics

Abstract: Contemporary discussions in AI ethics often treat culture as a source of normative divergence that needs to be accommodated, tolerated, or managed due to its resistance to universal standards. This paper offers an alternative vision through the concept of "Cultural Co-Genesis of AI Ethics." Rather than viewing culture as a boundary or container of isolated moral systems, we argue that it is a generative space for ethical co-production. In this framework, ethical values emerge through intercultural engagement, dialogical encounters, mutual recognition, and shared moral inquiry. This approach resists both universalist imposition and relativistic fragmentation. Cultures are not approached as absolutes to be defended or dissolved, but as co-authors of a dynamic ethical landscape. By grounding AI ethics in Cultural Co-Genesis, we move from managing difference to constructing shared ethical meaning for AI ethics, with culture as a partner, not a problem. We support this framework with two cases: (1) a theoretical analysis of how various cultures interpret the emergence of powerful new species, challenging dominant existential risk narratives, and (2) an empirical study of global AI ethics principles using data from the Linking AI Principles project, which reveals deep ethical convergence despite cultural diversity. We conclude that cross-cultural AI ethics should be seen not as an ethical patchwork, but as a mosaic in progress, woven from the normative insights that emerge between cultures.