AIF Insights No. 39 (2025) | Gatilok Ethics for AI

This paper examines how Gatilok parables, a classical Khmer moral tradition, can inform contemporary debates on AI ethics and governance. Drawing on six well known stories, it treats these parables as moral case studies rather than folklore, highlighting themes of authority without wisdom, silenced questioning, and ethical failure rooted in unchecked desire. The analysis shows clear parallels between these narratives and modern AI systems that rely on institutional prestige, technical opacity, and voluntary ethics frameworks without enforcement. By reframing AI governance through Gatilok’s ethical grammar, the paper argues for designs that make power accountable, systems contestable, and moral insight visible, especially for societies in the Global South that often receive AI technologies developed elsewhere. It concludes that ethical AI requires not only technical safeguards but also moral architectures that encourage listening, restraint, and responsibility.