What If AI Was Our New Slave? – September 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) assists us, guides us, and sometimes even surprises us. But it remains absent from the realm of responsibility. This situation echoes an ancient figure in Roman law: the slave. A slave acted for their master without legally existing. From ancient Rome to the digital age, the analogy raises a question: Can we delegate without conscience? Do we need to redefine our relationship with intelligent tools?

The Roman slave: an actor without rights, but with an impact

In antiquity, a slave was neither a person nor a mere object. They carried out orders and performed acts, but without recognized will. This legal paradox, an “acting tool,” allowed the master to exploit the slave’s capabilities without directly engaging their own responsibility.

Today, artificial intelligences play a comparable role. They write texts, recommend diagnoses, and manage logistical flows. Yet, in case of error or damage, who is responsible? The designer? The user? No one truly answers. We benefit from the effects of AI while keeping it outside the legal sphere. Like in ancient times, we rely on a powerful entity… to which we deny the status of a subject.

Responsibility to rebuild: humanity remains at the centre

Delegating is not abdicating. AI, however sophisticated it may be, doesn’t think. It calculates, anticipates, and executes, but it doesn’t understand. It has neither consciousness nor intention. Therefore, it’s up to us, users, decision-makers, and citizens, to maintain responsibility for the choices that bind our societies.

But this responsibility must also be clear. Too often, it gets diluted: we assume it was the algorithm that decided. However, any machine acting in the human world forces us to rethink the rules of responsibility. Ethics are not in the machine; they are in how we use it. Refusing this vigilance means sliding into a new form of servitude: that of the mind.

AI is therefore neither a slave nor a subject, but it forces us to revisit the foundations of our collective responsibility. How does the tool I create or use reflect my values? Am I prepared to answer for its consequences? These questions concern us all. And what if AI, instead of relieving us, actually awakened us? So, what will you do to ensure your tools remain instruments, and not disguised masters?

Christian Rolando

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