11–20 of 159 posts
I was listening to a podcast with Jim Rutt and he said that he encouraged people to give "bad news" and to not shoot the messenger. He was also against office politics and fired people for it. I wish more companies had this culture.
Just 75%? A friend was working for one of those AI startups. They wanted him to download and effectively steal documents for training their LLM. When he pointed out that the TOS explicitly forbade mass downloading, they fired him immediately. Sleezy times.
Just 75%? A friend was working for one of those AI startups. They wanted him to download and effectively steal documents for training their LLM. When he pointed out that the TOS explicitly forbade mass downloading, they fired him immediately. Sleezy times.
I've found that there isn't a lot of discussion or research around this subject. Shoutout to engprax, a compliance company, for clearly approaching the issue. Is it actually an issue though? Software engineers by design (?) are not capital "P" professionals. There's no certification or board underwriting our work. Software engineering/developers have had the latitude to "move fast" and represent the only "professiona…
Of course it's not perfect, but it's not like it's the first time it's occurred to someone to address.
Profits before ethics..
I was listening to a podcast with Jim Rutt and he said that he encouraged people to give "bad news" and to not shoot the messenger. He was also against office politics and fired people for it. I wish more companies had this culture.
Extensible to nearly all professions? In academia it happens..
Just 75%? A friend was working for one of those AI startups. They wanted him to download and effectively steal documents for training their LLM. When he pointed out that the TOS explicitly forbade mass downloading, they fired him immediately. Sleezy times.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I could not agree more. We are all responsible for our actions and the results our actions cause. "I was just following orders" in no way absolves anyone of that responsibility. That you may pay a price for doing the right thing doesn't make avoiding doing it acceptable.
When that cost includes possibly losing everything your worked for and your kids suffering it ceases to be so clear cut. If the society you live in won't look out for you in these situations, why should you look out for it? Take care of you and yours first.
I think it's still clear cut. Losing everything is a lamentable disaster, to be sure, but that doesn't change the ethics of the situation.
> If the society you live in won't look out for you in these situations
It's not some faceless "society", it's actual people, including the specific people you know. If you're willing to do things that are harmful to others, you're actively working to make the world worse for everyone -- including yourself and those you love.