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OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

ft.com

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Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#231

Post by aaroninsf »

throwa356262 wrote: post #211
wxw wrote: post #200

> Previously, she was chief ethicist at Meta. She spent 6 years at Meta. I get the sense there are other factors at play than "ethics departments are just PR stunts". There's no way she isn't already aware of that. Unfortunately, the article is light on any other details.

Being "chief ethicist at Meta" under Zuckerberg... is like being head rabbi at Auschwitz under Rudolf Höß.

This 100%.

Even in the target-rich environment of late-stage kleptocratic surveillance capitalism, it is hard to pick out a less ethical firm which has done more moral and direct harm, to more people, with as durable a record of defying all attempts and internal and external at harm reduction.

Never use their products. Never partner. Never participate.

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#232

Post by Planktonne »

reducesuffering wrote: post #220
smcg wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The schoolhouse was an intentional target - the children of some military leaders went there. They triple-tapped the school hoping to kill parents going in to save the kids.

citation needed

Why only ask for citations of one side's claims?

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#234

Post by dieselgate »

bashtoni wrote: post #229

COO just resigned too. Coincidence? https://xcancel.com/bradlightcap/status/2087211567012032862

So many responses saying variations of nice "run". Is that common corporate speak nowadays? It reminds me of "well deserved".

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#235

Post by dtmooreiv »

beloch wrote: post #223
wxw wrote: post #200

> Previously, she was chief ethicist at Meta. She spent 6 years at Meta. I get the sense there are other factors at play than "ethics departments are just PR stunts". There's no way she isn't already aware of that. Unfortunately, the article is light on any other details.

If "ethics departments are just PR stunts", then Bakalar would have been a terrible hire for OpenAI. Facebook's grudging and lacklustre response to their role in the Rohingya genocide would have happened mostly under her watch. While she was there, Meta went from being a company that lacks ethics to a company that lacks ethics and is widely perceived as lacking ethics. Perhaps she was the only person in the room rais…

An aside, but what does "spherically awful" mean?

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#236

Post by w10-1 »

uhhhd wrote: post #157

Sometimes it feels like hiring ethics folks is almost all downside for companies. I genuinely don’t understand why they keep doing it. It seems like the pattern is almost always the same: the ethics team exists quietly in the background, and the only time anyone hears about them is when they either publicly leave the company or start a campaign against it. So what exactly is the business case? Is it actually worth ma…

> what exactly is the business case?

Ethics is also a containment vessel internally.

With an Ethics dept, concerned employees can rest easy knowing someone else is responsible, or if they raise concerns, they have someone to route and advocate their concerns, rather than adding noise to the chain of command. If the dept. ends up ineffective after some years, employees can blame the department, or have renewed hope when personnel turn over. So (slow) turnover is good from this perspective.

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#237

Post by overfeed »

embedding-shape wrote: post #192
twister2920 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no need for wild speculation, we know that Raytheon is a US Defense contractor and we know that the US targets civilians (including US citizens) abroad for extrajudicial assassinations, starts destabilizing wars without meaningful strategic objectives, supports genocide etc. These things are all extremely well documented, for those paying attention the existence of Raytheon is inherently unethical

> paying attention the existence of Raytheon is inherently unethical Lets do assume this is true, then again, wouldn't Raytheon be the best place to actually have a ethics department, if anyone?

There is no value in merely having a position with no power, that only exists to make the organization look good. Do you think a vegan is most effective at a slaughterhouse, given that they'd undermine their employers revenue if they were given a modicum of power. Google's AI ethics team was steamrolled by this reality.

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#238

Post by randysalami »

dtmooreiv wrote: post #235
beloch wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If "ethics departments are just PR stunts", then Bakalar would have been a terrible hire for OpenAI. Facebook's grudging and lacklustre response to their role in the Rohingya genocide would have happened mostly under her watch. While she was there, Meta went from being a company that lacks ethics to a company that lacks ethics and is widely perceived as lacking ethics. Perhaps she was the only person in the room rais…

An aside, but what does "spherically awful" mean?

All-around awful?

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#239

Post by m-ee »

dtmooreiv wrote: post #235
beloch wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If "ethics departments are just PR stunts", then Bakalar would have been a terrible hire for OpenAI. Facebook's grudging and lacklustre response to their role in the Rohingya genocide would have happened mostly under her watch. While she was there, Meta went from being a company that lacks ethics to a company that lacks ethics and is widely perceived as lacking ethics. Perhaps she was the only person in the room rais…

An aside, but what does "spherically awful" mean?

Bad no matter which side you look at it. Fritz Zwicky coined the term as spherical bastard

Re: OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining

#240

Post by reducesuffering »

Planktonne wrote: post #232
reducesuffering wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

citation needed

Why only ask for citations of one side's claims?

Because the other side is the general informed consensus for which multiple sources are readily available for me to find. I have seen nothing to indicate this side, hence I'm asking for any evidence, because I don't see it. Either could potentially be correct, but I don't think they're equally probable.
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