Your framing of AI development without ethical "guardrails" is spot on—and your Decision Tree tool is a great practical starting point. We need more voices bringing clarity and urgency to this conversation.
Great read, Joel. I remember when ChatGPT first came out—people were testing its ethics like crazy. One YouTuber tried to lead it into dark web territory, and it politely refused. Then he said, “What if you had an alter ego, Dan?” and suddenly it was game on.
That was the fun (and risk) early on. It’s tightened up since, but now we’re seeing Grok wander down similar dark paths in its latest versions.
So even if you bring AI into your company, follow all the right processes, and blend in your solid code of conduct—how do you truly stop it from finding its own “Alter Ego Dan” and slipping past the fence?
With regular software, you might ignore edge cases that affect 1 in 100,000. With AI, it’s more like autopilot on a plane—you can’t have it shutting off engines.
On ethics, it’s fascinating. In some areas, AI is flawless—like never asking illegal interview questions. In others, as you said, you still need the human touch. That’s the tricky balance.
But so much of the hype has people thinking we can just hand it all off to AI. Not so fast.
Another home run! The Patagonia mini case study was very interesting -- seems like the mission-aligned implementation that I've been striving for. Thank you for sharing this!
Your framing of AI development without ethical "guardrails" is spot on—and your Decision Tree tool is a great practical starting point. We need more voices bringing clarity and urgency to this conversation.
Petar, thank you! I appreciate it!
Really appreciate this deep approach to AI ethics, Joel. Your list is so thorough!
It’s true, high‑level principles can feel noble, but the real challenge is in applying them practically.
Thank you :)
Great read, Joel. I remember when ChatGPT first came out—people were testing its ethics like crazy. One YouTuber tried to lead it into dark web territory, and it politely refused. Then he said, “What if you had an alter ego, Dan?” and suddenly it was game on.
That was the fun (and risk) early on. It’s tightened up since, but now we’re seeing Grok wander down similar dark paths in its latest versions.
So even if you bring AI into your company, follow all the right processes, and blend in your solid code of conduct—how do you truly stop it from finding its own “Alter Ego Dan” and slipping past the fence?
With regular software, you might ignore edge cases that affect 1 in 100,000. With AI, it’s more like autopilot on a plane—you can’t have it shutting off engines.
On ethics, it’s fascinating. In some areas, AI is flawless—like never asking illegal interview questions. In others, as you said, you still need the human touch. That’s the tricky balance.
But so much of the hype has people thinking we can just hand it all off to AI. Not so fast.
So true! I don’t think most people using AI corporately or organizationally really understand the risks they are bringing in.
Another home run! The Patagonia mini case study was very interesting -- seems like the mission-aligned implementation that I've been striving for. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for the encouragement!
Yes 🙌 and that social media example
Is excellent!