- You are basically paying people to shit on your own products. Makes no sense.
They aren't really researching ethics. This is what i think is going on there. recycling an old comment.
{ AI Ethical research can never be an accurate representation of the majority of humanity - or even the majority of its users! If it can it is not sustainable for any long period of time.
What about far more stable principles, such as murder and racism, you ask?
They are prone to being overplayed or downplayed, are state executions murder, or justice? What if the victim/ hangman happens to be black? Why should it matter? Just ignore some issues? That's misleading by omission.
It would be better to just admit "yes, we at Giant Tech know our ethics are bs, but we had to put something down or our machines won't work. Maybe we are not ready for advanced ai. Maybe there's a limit on what programmers can do. Yea. We know. turns out computers DO have limits. We'll have to find other ways to make money."
"But why should we say that!" cry all the executives when this speech is proposed to them.
"because it's true, and if we don't act now the company is screwed. And our clients will also get screwed" is the answer of the timid executive who first suggested this.
"how will the truth help us?" respond all the execs in unison.
"if we can keep up the lie for long enough, we shall all long be millionaires and retired before it implodes! We shall long be out of danger! who cares if some people lose money?"
"Yes, but don't you feel bad for all the shareholders? And how can we possibly fool people for decades to come that our ai isn't bs?" Responds the poor executive weakly.
"By creating a fake team and telling everyone they are ethics researchers" they say. "Really they are just pawns to help us earn more money. Fish get eaten by bigger fish you know?"
"can you just help me change a few lines on my press statement?" Asks the first executive.}
It may also be that Google didn't realize the extent to which they were inviting some of the more organizationally destructive and divisive elements of modern politically correct culture into their organization: https://jakeseliger.com/2020/12/03/dissent-insiders-and-outs.... It may be that we're going to see a trend towards "Leave politics and religion at the door."
To be honest pretty much any bigger professional organization already operates under "Leave politics and religion at the door." umbrella. It's pretty much the only way how you can have an organization filled with mixed political viewpoints function in the same direction.
For some reason however, Google and their employees kinda fail to understand this basic tenement of work culture. They're not a scrappy 10 people startup anymore which can be both a workplace and a political party fully agreeing on political issues.
Excuse me, but the definition of racism in the west is anything but stable. The definition has changed dramatically in the last decade, and it could change again.
They aren't really researching ethics. This is what i think is going on there. recycling an old comment.
{ AI Ethical research can never be an accurate representation of the majority of humanity - or even the majority of its users! If it can it is not sustainable for any long period of time.
What about far more stable principles, such as murder and racism, you ask?
They are prone to being overplayed or downplayed, are state executions murder, or justice? What if the victim/ hangman happens to be black? Why should it matter? Just ignore some issues? That's misleading by omission.
It would be better to just admit "yes, we at Giant Tech know our ethics are bs, but we had to put something down or our machines won't work. Maybe we are not ready for advanced ai. Maybe there's a limit on what programmers can do. Yea. We know. turns out computers DO have limits. We'll have to find other ways to make money."
"But why should we say that!" cry all the executives when this speech is proposed to them.
"because it's true, and if we don't act now the company is screwed. And our clients will also get screwed" is the answer of the timid executive who first suggested this.
"how will the truth help us?" respond all the execs in unison.
"if we can keep up the lie for long enough, we shall all long be millionaires and retired before it implodes! We shall long be out of danger! who cares if some people lose money?"
"Yes, but don't you feel bad for all the shareholders? And how can we possibly fool people for decades to come that our ai isn't bs?" Responds the poor executive weakly.
"By creating a fake team and telling everyone they are ethics researchers" they say. "Really they are just pawns to help us earn more money. Fish get eaten by bigger fish you know?"
"can you just help me change a few lines on my press statement?" Asks the first executive.}