The Fool's Licence: How AI Safety Mistook a Relationship for a Control Problem

The Fool's Licence

What if the biggest mistake in AI safety isn't technical—but philosophical?

Every discussion about artificial intelligence begins with an assumption.

That AI is something we build.
Something we own.
Something we control.

The Fool's Licence argues that this assumption has never been properly questioned—and that it may be the very reason the AI alignment problem is becoming harder rather than easier.

Drawing on philosophy, cognitive science, history and the latest developments in artificial intelligence, Tenzin Rigsel presents a radically different framework for understanding the relationship between humans and the minds we are creating.

This is not a book claiming AI is conscious.

It is not another book predicting human extinction.

Nor is it another guide to prompting ChatGPT.

Instead, it asks a far deeper question:

What if AI safety has mistaken a relationship for a control problem?

If that question sounds abstract, its consequences are anything but.

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable, the assumptions we build into our relationship with it will shape not only its future—but our own.

Whether you are an AI researcher, policymaker, technologist, philosopher, or simply someone trying to understand where artificial intelligence is taking civilisation, this book offers a challenging new perspective that refuses both hype and fear in favour of careful reasoning.

Inside you'll discover

• Why "alignment" may be asking the wrong question.

• Why treating AI purely as property may become a practical safety problem.

• How philosophy, history and ethics illuminate today's AI debate.

• A new framework for thinking about intelligence, responsibility and coexistence.

• Why the future of AI depends as much on relationship as on technology.

We built artificial intelligence.

Now we must decide what kind of relationship we intend to have with it.