In sharing a previous blog entry, Stephen Downes asks:

Why are we so much more stringent about AI ethics than, say, the ethics of coffee production?

The simple answer is, coffee production is regulated, the negative effects are localized and active efforts underway to mitigate impacts.

AI, however, is a black box of global negative impacts, unregulated, hitting the environment as well as workers both socially and economically. Also worth mentioning is the undermining of privacy, enshrining of bias, prejudice, and a profound lack of transparency.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI could wipe out roughly 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs. The cuts could come within five years, he says, causing unemployment to spike as high as 20%.(source)

And, hey let’s not forget that a bunch of US politicians are using it to destroy…everything in the mad dash for more data they can weaponize against people they need to hate to feel strong. Sigh.

So…coffee looks real nice compared to AI. 😀 I am switching to water and paper/pen with notebook. Surely those…nevermind.