18/08/2026
AM I A HYPOCRITE FOR USING AI?
Someone recently questioned how I can speak about protecting wildlife, caring for nature and building a better future, while also using Artificial Intelligence.
I took no offence.
Actually, I think it is an important question.
Because AI has a cost.
It consumes energy, requires infrastructure and resources, can reproduce bias, spread misinformation, affect jobs and potentially change how we think, create and interact. UNESCO itself recognises both the positive and negative impacts of AI on human lives, minds, societies, environments and ecosystems.
So no; I don't believe using AI makes me automatically ethical.
But I also don't believe using AI makes me a hypocrite.
The ethical question is not simply: “Do you use AI?”
It is:
How do you use it? Why do you use it? Who benefits? Who carries the cost? And what safeguards do you put around it?
South Africa's Constitution gives us an important foundation.
Section 10: “Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.”
Section 16 protects freedom of expression, including artistic creativity and the freedom to receive and impart information and ideas.
And Section 24 recognises our right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing, while requiring environmental protection, conservation and ecologically sustainable development for present and future generations.
These rights don't tell us to reject technology.
They challenge us to use technology responsibly.
AI has given people like me opportunities that were once locked behind expensive software, cameras, computers, studios and production teams.
It can help someone with a phone tell a story.
Teach.
Design.
Translate.
Research.
Create.
Imagine.
AI can lower the barrier to participation.
That matters.
But access without responsibility can become another form of harm.
So at Nkage Media, our position is becoming clearer:
AI must remain a tool, never the authority.
We will use AI to extend creativity, not erase human creativity.
To assist thinking, not replace thinking.
To educate, not deceive.
To support conservation, not ignore nature's cost.
To amplify voices, not manufacture false realities.
To create opportunity, not surrender human agency.
UNESCO's global AI ethics framework places human dignity, human rights, environmental sustainability, transparency, fairness and human oversight at the centre of responsible AI.
That is close to what we mean by Botho.
Technology must serve life, not replace it.
We can acknowledge AI's dangers without denying its possibilities.
We can love nature while honestly examining the footprint of the tools we use.
We can embrace innovation while demanding accountability.
And we can create without pretending that every creation is harmless.
For us, responsible AI begins with one question:
Does this technology help us build a better world without costing us our humanity?
This conversation is only beginning.
This is Bothonics.
