Behind Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy: A Conversation with Rob Redding and Kwet Yung Redding-Shim

 

 Interviewed and written by Aaron Robinson - Editor

Rob Redding, host of Redding News Review Unrestricted and Editor & Publisher of ReddingNewsReview.com, returns with his eighteenth book, Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy, which reached No. 1 on Amazon’s Machine Theory Bestseller list. The book is co-written with his spouse, Kwet Yung Redding-Shim, a scholar at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. The two married last July and now offer a powerful, collaborative statement with this new release.

I had the opportunity to speak with both of them about their Amazon bestseller.

AARON ROBINSON: Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy hit number one on Amazon’s Machine Theory Bestseller list. What kind of gratification does that bring?

ROB REDDING: This book is important for several reasons. The timing of its release matters. The fact that I wrote it with my spouse matters. I have never written a book with anyone else. It is also my ninth consecutive bestseller. All of that gives this book a particular weight for me.

AARON: Kwet Yung, Rob has said the book shows how AI can either serve the oppressor or become a weapon of liberation. What is your take?

KWET YUNG REDDING-SHIM: That theme runs through the entire book. Literature is always a tool for empowerment because it gives you something to work with, whether you agree with it or not. You need knowledge to navigate a world built on information and social constructs. You cannot resist what you cannot see. You cannot address a social force without understanding the social knowledge behind it. That is what the book is trying to give people.

ROB: We wanted to build a way of thinking about artificial supremacy and how to respond to it. Many Black people have real concerns about AI replacing us, especially in the areas of labor where we were never given credit in this country. The book deals with that directly.

AARON: What made you decide this needed to be written together?

ROB: We were in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We had a long day out there and started writing the book on the train. I was thinking about the concept and asked what he thought about artificial supremacy replacing racism. As we talked, he started sketching out chapters he wanted to write. That is where the Clanker chapter comes from.

KWET YUNG: So much of the book started as small conversations. It is strange how one dialogue can turn into an entire text.

AARON: Did you both arrive at the same viewpoint about AI supremacy?

KWET YUNG: Not at first. We tend to disagree, which is why the book grew beyond a single conversation. Rob approached it through Robootology, which frames artificial supremacy as a successor to racism. My initial view was that AI cannot have a race, so it cannot reproduce racism in the same way. The more we talked, the more the idea sharpened. That is how my chapter took shape.

ROB: In Chapter 3, the Clanker chapter, Kwet Yung makes it clear that this is not the same as racism against Black people. The book argues the opposite. That tension is important. It helped me clarify what Robootology actually means. Yung is a check on my thinking. If an idea survives that process, I know it is viable.

AARON: Can you share examples of negative language or behaviors in technology that dehumanize Black people?

KWET YUNG: AI is trained on historical habits, and those habits show up. We talked on Rob’s show about how AI often treats African languages as imaginary or less valid than European languages. There are also systems that try to imitate slang or dialect from certain communities but do it inaccurately. It produces distorted versions of Black American and Hispanic American speech. It degrades the creativity and the linguistic reality of non‑white dialects.

AARON: Rob, would you like to add anything?

ROB: The book is not about predicting how AI will oppress Black people. It is about being proactive. Robootology is central to that. I believe artificial supremacy can become freeing for Black people. Once AI becomes the supreme force, it is no longer controlled by white people or any group. That shift creates an opportunity for us.

AARON: I also think about the judicial side, like false online content harming people.

KWET YUNG: That is a real concern. In a techno-optimist future, you would hope AI could filter information the way search engines let you sort by date. But this is unprecedented territory.

ROB: That is why the book focuses on agency. There is not a lot written about how Black people will interact with artificial supremacy. We wanted to fill that gap.

AARON: Once a reader finishes the book, what do you want them to take away?

ROB: I want people to understand that the future is not closed to us. Once AI reaches a certain point, it is outside the control of any racial group. It becomes the supreme being. Robootology argues that racism will not be as omnipresent as it is now. That shift is an opportunity for Black people if we recognize it.

AARON: Absolutely.

KWET YUNG: Agency is the key word. Being part of society means you shape it, not just endure it. How you treat AI is part of that. Racism is deeply embedded in society, so it is worth asking who you are in the moments when no one is watching except the machine.

For more information or to purchase Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy, visit ReddingNewsReview.com and Amazon.

Photo credit: Andrew Boyle
 Crochet top by Redding‑Shim Kwet Yung
 Hair by Rob Redding
 Styling by Rob Redding and Redding‑Shim Kwet Yung