[liberationtech] The Invention of "Ethical AI"

[Thomas Delrue]

I think I understand what you're saying but that leads us to a situation
where you are coerced to be strip-searched for every piece of data you
have just to prevent the situation of "some computer says no", in other
words: if you don't participate, we assume the worst. This is better
known as bullying.

The more I hear about this, the more I am driven towards the conclusion
that AI (ethical or not) has got nothing to do with technology but more
and more with legal liability and with control...
It's an externalizing of blame into some oracle that no-one but a
handful of priests understands. Yet have no doubt about it: these models
are created and tweaked, just like anything else, to give the result
that is most desirable; and once achieved, they are locked in. From then
on, you can tell the entire world: "look, we don't know what's going on
inside the black box and it's too complicated for you to torture your
little brain about it, so just trust us when we say you should trust The
All Knowing Algorithm and sing the following incantation with me...".
Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Mandatory participation in technology just to prevent a people-problem
(because this isn't a tech problem, this is a people problem) is not
much different from mandatory participation in self-criticism, as is
practiced in some unsavory places in the world.
Based on how this data will be used, and we've slid down that slippery
slope time and time again, this is not in any way different from
self-criticism because this will be used to deny things, not to grant
things: give us your data, so we may tell you 'no' in a myriad of ways...

On 12/27/19 07:57, R R Brooks wrote:
> Opting out is likely to add additionally biases into the data, since I
> imagine
> underrepresented groups being more likely to opt out. Lack of
> representation
> is already leading to blacks and women getting substandard medical care
> in USA.
> 
> Consider the ethical dimensions that adds.
> 
> 
> 
> On December 27, 2019 6:36:22 AM EST, carlo von lynX
> <lynX at time.to.get.psyced.org> wrote:
> 
>     On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 03:13:27PM -0600, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes wrote:
> 
>         Anonymity doesn’t protect “Particular Social Groups” and
>         aggregate anonymous data analysis and mining is the basis for
>         discrimination of entire segments of the population! Like zip
>         code discrimination. Food deserts. Etc.
> 
> 
>     True, so the total unavailability of private and personal data for
>     centralized analysis wouldn't even be enough as we still have to
>     work through the dangers of public data. But radical privacy sounds
>     to me like the most important starting point.
> 
>     On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 1:05 PM John Young <jya at pipeline.com> wrote:
> 
>         "Ethical" is a marketing, manipulative term, applied to exploitive,
>         deceptive initiatives.
> 
> 
>     I can very well imagine that the marketing individuals introducing
>     the word into their corporate discourse may all be well-intentioned.
>     The problem happens beyond their immediate understanding as corporate
>     structures acting within the capitalist framework cannot effectively
>     act ethically unless all of their costumers are extremily aware,
>     caring and able to check the effective application of ethical values -
>     and putting such values before their own individual interest.
> 
>     In the era of individualism this just isn't happening, therefore any
>     company trying to make things ethical will fall into competitive
>     disadvantage against those who don't.
> 
>     So even if there is a genuine attempt of a company leadership to go
>     ethical, it must be stopped ASAP to stop losing market share. So the
>     leadership will be replaced if it doesn't stop the ethical madness
>     on time.
> 
>     In the capitalist system, the only ethical force lies in legislation,
>     government and jurisdiction. The market is structurally unable to
>     ever act ethically by itself.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>