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terminal_object t1_ivlppuf wrote

AI ethics definitely has the potential to attract the best grifters

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new_name_who_dis_ t1_ivlwu4d wrote

I don't think I've seen a single AI Ethicist (from the ones i see on twitter at least) who actually has a background in ethics and philosophy.

It's like if I got a job as a lawyer without having gone to law school.

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drcopus t1_ivmjj3l wrote

Iason Gabriel comes to mind as a prominent example, but I do think I could find some others too. Maybe Kate Crawford also reasonably fits - she certainly comes from humanities. (This isn't my area, so this is all quite vague to me)

On another note, I don't really buy your analogy to law. AI ethics is inherently interdisciplinary. While I will always be skeptical of people simply coming in with backgrounds from one side or another, I don't think the space should be hostile. After all it requires collaboration.

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new_name_who_dis_ t1_ivmnhxr wrote

I think law is very interdisciplinary. But you still need to understand the actual law.

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Phoneaccount25732 t1_ivmiut1 wrote

On the other hand, bioethics is filled with people who understand philosophy but not the subject material, and has a very counterproductive do-nothing bias.

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LaOnionLaUnion t1_ivmsis6 wrote

I know someone who has a PhD in ethics and philosophy and specialized in AI ethics. Job market is so narrow it is absurd.

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jms4607 t1_ivmqkkt wrote

AI ethicist backpropagates toy-size mlp by hand (hard)

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billjames1685 t1_ivmnab8 wrote

Half the people there are just saying the same shit about how we need to not let AI turn us into paperclips by accident, instead of addressing actual problems that AI will pose in the future, like for example the fact that the internet is going to be flooded with bots in a few years making it impossible to distinguish who is a human and who isn't...

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