Generative AI models ingest huge datasets gathered all over the web. Unsurprisingly, they reflect decades of Western cultural hegemony. Yet, the hegemony is not absolute.

Non-Western motifs, that is, recurring patterns and themes with deep cultural resonance, can be discovered and reproduced across different generative AI models.

In this talk I will explain the methods I developed to draw out motifs, the journey I took and what I learned along the way. I will present motifs and use them to outline a space stretching from representation to prejudice on the one hand and western to non-western depiction on the other.

Finally, I will make a case for AI as a tool for cultural exploration and discuss how monetary incentives jeopardise this endeavour, adding to the long list of reasons to break up monopolies with transparent, publicly-funded AI-models.