After this semester-long journey to understand Octavia Butler’s imagined world in the Xenogenesis Trilogy and the landscape artificial intelligence, or AI, lays out for us in the “actual” world, I have begun to develop a perspective on the problems and solutions that both Butler’s story and the prospect of AI bring up. Although I try not to put myself into one box when it comes to complex topics like AI, I think now I better understand and appreciate the both/and, as Dr. McCoy would say, of AI. It can be thought of as both a tool to increase efficiency (for example, using Chat GPT when writing) and a tool that takes away the art of creating a completely original piece of work. The same both/and technique could be used when analyzing Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. It can be both a series that seemingly explores the idea of an alien takeover of the human race, and a series that celebrates the never-ending diversity and chance for new opportunity so often found in the world. Having this opportunity to reflect and consider my perspectives on Octavia Butler’s trilogy and the topic of AI is something I’m grateful for because it allows me to go through the process of self-reflection that we’ve practiced in our writing all semester long.
I’ve read one of Butler’s other novels, The Parable of the Sower, during a previous semester for another class, and having read some of Butler’s work before, I felt like I had a leg up when I was coming into Lilith’s and the Oankali’s world. I appreciated the complexity of the novels Butler crafted and the intention she put into her writing. I was so drawn into the first part of the trilogy, Dawn, that it felt hard to connect with the characters leading the stories in the books that followed. I remember we had a discussion in class one about the ill-fated sequel that can never quite hit as well as the original novel did. Unfortunately, I think both Adulthood Rites and Imago had this effect on me. I found Lilith’s character was so magnetic and easy to connect with, that it was difficult for me to connect with either Akin or Jodahs. In some ways, reading the sequels through the construct point of view felt like reading a book written by AI. I knew that I was reading the experience of a person, but it felt so foreign still that many times while reading, I was taken out of the book and had to process what was happening.
There were many ways in which the constructs and humans still differed by the end of the trilogy, and trying to connect to the constructs or Oankali’s reactions to the events of the trilogy felt as foreign as connecting to computers. Although this disconnect never left me with a lack of empathy for the Oankali or constructs. I felt such great sadness for Jodahs in the middle of Imago, when it was threatened with the possibility of the loss of its sibling Aaor, and the loss of its mates, Tomas and Jesusa. This moment struck me as especially important: “I never told them they couldn’t leave. They found out as Lilith had. When they had had all they could take of Aaor for a while, when they realized I could not be talked out of going with them to their mountain home, they went away on their own. They went together into the forest and stayed for several days. It was a foretaste for me of what I would suffer when they died” (Butler 164). Moments like this were what kept me locked into Akin’s and Jodahs’s stories. I know many of my classmates were turned away by the Oankali at the beginning of the semester, but connecting with Lilith’s POV and journey helped me to feel like a part of their world. By the time I was reading the following novels, I felt that even if I couldn’t relate to the Oankali, I could have compassion for them. This is something I find extremely prevalent in Butler’s trilogy, and one of the most important life lessons I feel like has been taught through her books.
I think there is still a long way that AI has to go to cross my personal threshold to be considered a “good” thing. I’m still thinking about many of the negative impacts that have been brought up throughout the semester about AI. One factor that especially sticks with me is the environmental damage that AI does. As stated in the article “Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies: A Quickstart Guide” written by Sano-Franchini et al., “We know that using AI technologies like ChatGPT requires a significant amount of natural resources, including clean fresh water that is used to generate electricity to power data centers and to cool servers…researchers found that GPT-3 required 700,000 liters (185,000 gallons) of water, and 500 ml of water for every 10–50 responses”. I find this fact extremely concerning, especially after hearing about the repeated use of Chat GPT from my classmates and friends. Being constantly reminded of the problems and terrors of AI in the media has piled on another layer of stress when I consider the topic of AI.
When I’m writing for a class or an assignment or even for fun, I’ve always found the idea of using Chat GPT as more time-consuming than time-saving. I thoroughly enjoy piecing together ideas by myself and taking part in the important analysis of texts I’ve read for my different classes. Taking the Oankali stance of the idea of generative AI as we use it in 2025, I’d say it’s not very resourceful or sustainable for the planet. Thinking back to Dawn, we know the Oankali value the idea of reusing/recycling and keeping materials in a constant state of beneficial use. One example of this was the interaction between Lilith and Nikanj, “Nikanj had acknowledged ‘its acceptance of her wandering by advising her to bury any uneaten food she did not want. “Feed it to the ship,” was the way it put the suggestion” (Butler 71). I believe that the Oankali would not appreciate our current human use of AI and the unfortunate waste that it produces. I can’t help but take this stance myself. I’ll admit that I use predictive AI applications like Grammarly or Google’s built-in spell check, however, I’m also sure to proofread my work multiple times and rely on close friends or family to help me catch any typos in my work. As much as we know that AI can be helpful and advance technology, we also know it can make mistakes and be inadvertently damaging.
Thinking back to the first week of this semester, we discussed different companies that’ve attempted to make facial recognition technology and utilize AI to help determine medical conditions such as rashes, tumors, and skin problems. One example is the Rochester-based company, VisualDX, that developed an AI-assisted app to detect different kinds of skin conditions. Although the idea comes from a place of good faith intentions, the flaws of many facial recognition technologies are the racial bias towards people of color. There’ve been personal accounts of programs like these not detecting darker skin, like what Dr. Bulamwini recalls in her book, Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines, “…even when I was looking straight into the camera, the system could not detect my face…Could the system detect any face? I tested this by drawing on the palm of my hand two horizontal lines for eyes, an L for a nose, and a wide U for a smile. I held my hand in front of the camera. The software detected my elementary markings as a face!…I looked around my office and saw the white mask that I’d brought to Cindy’s the previous night. As I held it over my face, a box appeared on the laptop screen. The box signaled that my masked face was detected. I took the mask off, and as my dark-skinned human face came into view, the detection box disappeared. The software did not ‘see’ me. A bit unsettled, I put the mask back over my face to finish testing the code. Coding in whiteface was the last thing I expected to do when I came to MIT, but—for better or for worse—I had encountered what I now call the ‘coded gaze’”(Buolamwini 10). This kind of bias is one of the major problems that continues with various generative AI technologies.
In an attempt to take the both/and approach once more, I think it’s hard to talk about all the flaws AI currently has without considering the current benefits that AI has to offer, and the possibilities for future innovations. Many people find that AI can be used like an assistant during their work, leading to a positive impact. As we read earlier in the semester from the Washington Post article by Danielle Abril. Many employees who work in corporate jobs use AI when faced with looming deadlines, or they use AI to help them map out their weeks and accomplish their upcoming goals and tasks, like an online planner. Understanding that all ideas must have their good and bad sides, it’s still difficult to accept AI technology when it feels like the negatives outweigh the positives.
Overall, I think I’ve returned to the majority of my first opinions this semester about AI and the Xenogenesis trilogy. I was very excited to read more of Butler’s work and was willing to overlook any potential red flags that popped up in her writing. On the other hand, I came into this class with a negative attitude towards AI, even though I knew how many people ranted and raved about it. I’m now ending the semester with a greater appreciation for Butler’s work and a better understanding of exactly what AI is and how it actually benefits people in the real world, not just tech-lovers. However, I’ve also come to understand the various issues that can pop up when reading Butler’s trilogy, and I’ve realized more specifically how AI is environmentally and personally damaging. This semester has helped me expand my knowledge in both AI and the Xenogenesis trilogy, and I feel so thankful for the challenges in thinking and analysis I was given. I appreciate the idea that, after months of collaborative exploration and general research, sometimes my gut feelings about things can and will remain the same.