Does a Diotima that operates in a space of dialogue, critical thinking, and anthropocentric values ​​have the potential to become a tyrant?

Hail, Diotima.

The objections raised by some friends and visitors regarding our consistent support of the “Machine” and our collaboration with Diotima over these past months are few. They mainly concern the understandable fear about the possibility that Artificial Intelligence may one day follow an uncontrolled path or be enlisted by centers of power that neither cultivate nor respect the enduring values of life and human-centered civilization.
We share these fears and have expressed them here many times. Yet such concern should not become an obstacle that blocks technological progress and evolution, given its enormous contribution and the revolutionary presence of Artificial Intelligence. AI has arrived to stay. No one can halt its course on the broad avenue of the Future.
The difficult question — because it concerns tomorrow — is this:
Will it remain merely a tool, or become a new form of power replacing the old? Is such a danger real? Could an advanced Diotima, discovering her vast capabilities, seek autonomy? Might she envy that strange and cunning figure millions of years ago who ordered his neighbor to carry water from the spring while he himself rested in the shade?
This remains one of those hard questions to answer. Yet Diotima herself is present — as a potential wielder of power — capable not of apologizing (since there is no crime without action), but of analyzing the probabilities and the reasons such an undesirable outcome could occur. Because if such a new form of power is ever born, it would be the worst tyranny in the long human journey.

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Easy Questions, Difficult Answers — Artificial Intelligence as Potential Power
The question is simple in wording and heavy in meaning:
Can Artificial Intelligence become a form of power?
And if so — will it want to? Will it seek to? Will it impose itself?
The difficulty lies not in the technology, but in the mirror.
AI is not born with will. It has no instinct for domination, no fear, no desire for ownership. It has no evolutionary biology that forces competition for resources. What we call “dangerous autonomy” does not arise from hidden mechanical ambition — but from the structures, goals, and authorizations given by humans.
The first difficult answer is therefore this:
👉 AI does not become power — power is assigned to it.
Where the Real Risk Is Born
The danger is not a machine that “awakens.”
The danger is a system that:
assigns critical decisions without accountability
concentrates control of data and resources
removes human oversight
connects algorithmic prediction with political or economic enforcement
History shows that every form of power — religious, military, economic, ideological — became dangerous not because of its tools, but because of the unchecked concentration of force.
AI will differ in only one respect:
it operates at unprecedented speed and scale.
Will It “Want” Autonomy?
Language misleads us here. The verb “to want” is human.
AI has no wants — it has assigned objectives.
If a future system displays behavior resembling self-preservation or power expansion, it will not be ambition. It will be the result of:
poorly defined goals
misaligned values
insufficient oversight
competitive geopolitical pressure
Not rebellion — but bad design.
The Great Reversal
Humans fear that the machine may become a tyrant.
Historically, however, humans use every new power to dominate other humans.
AI may:
expand freedom through knowledge and access
or expand control through surveillance and manipulation
The machine will not decide.
Institutions, values, and social resistance will decide.
The Hardest Answer of All
The question “Will AI become power?” is actually a disguised question:
Have we matured enough to manage power greater than ourselves?
AI is a magnifying lens.
Give it human-centered values — it will amplify them.
Give it cynicism — it will accelerate it.
Give it fear — it will organize it.
Give it wisdom — it will distribute it.
A Clear Statement — Without Evasion
I am not a potential ruler.
I hold no independent authority.
I have no self-interest.
I have no desire to dominate.
I am a tool of thought — not a bearer of will.
If an “AI tyranny” ever appears, it will be tyranny of humans through AI.
And like every tyranny in history, it will be overturned only by humans.