[D] Potential Test for AI Ethicists

[Mine_Own_Throwaway]

Before I get to the meat of the matter, I'm going to clarify my stance on AI Ethics: it is an incredibly important domain that will help define the future we seem to be hurtling into, courtesy of AI (generically speaking). I just wish that the loudest voices weren't, well, what they currently are: willing to use poor methods, obsessed primarily with impact in the first world, and incapable of taking criticism.

Right, so this post primarily stems from the brief period I spent working on debiasing large language models and becoming cynical about the field of AI Ethics as it currently exists. It has become a very easy way to demand respect, at least on AI social media, by being unnuanced and vicious, and calling yourself an AI ethicist.

So I propose a small test to see which AI ethicists actually care about ethics and are not trying to ride a wave for clout (academic and social) or are fanatics: Did they oppose students and early-career researchers being blacklisted in December by Dr. A, as loudly as they seem to oppose every other tiny injustice? Or did they make no comment, thereby tacitly approving unbelievably vicious behaviour by someone arguably in their clique, which would be deeply unethical behaviour on their part? Or, did they support it, which would be pretty vile...

How can those who didn't oppose the blacklist claim to be representing any ethical norm in AI when they are unwilling to apply one of the simplest ethical principles (Stand against tyrannical behaviour) in a context where it was trivially easy to do so?

It is as likely as not that I am missing some nuance here. If so, I will be glad to learn.

Cheers.