The Greater Good

The Greater Good

“AI will do 95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today.”

“Klarna AI Assistant handles two thirds of its customer service chats, doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents.”

We are seeing more and more quotes like this. The notion that "AI will enhance current work" is being quickly replaced by "AI will replace some humans". Some will say: "Well, maybe some people will be displaced, but other jobs will emerge, new advances. Think of all the progress ahead!”

The sacrifice of some is for the greater good.

Good that some think and decide this way. Good that some prefer rational, utilitarian actions over emotional ones.Or is it? A large number of recent empirical studies paint a different picture (e.g.: Bartels & Pizarro, 2011; Glenn, Koleva, Iyer, Graham, & Ditto, 2010; Kahane et al., 2013, 2015; Koenigs, Kruepke, Zeier, & Newman, 2012; Witch et al., 2013).

Utilitarian and sacrificial judgments are consistently associated with higher levels of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, callousness, and manipulativeness, among other negative moral traits. Just because an individual acts like a utilitarian it doesn’t mean they are.The reason is not difficult to understand. Hypothetical, distant future promises may enable present cruel attitudes.And even when and if that hypothetical future comes, the individual will be there. Probably untouched and in a position of leadership after trampling on the heads of the sacrificial lambs. It is the perfect crime.

I'll leave the economic and sociological consequences to the experts.

Psychologically, if it feels wrong to you to sacrifice some people, perhaps it is because it might be.

Or is it?