“I'd guess we here on HN are the people best equipped to prevent the worst. So the next time you help someone automate their customer support, ask yourself: How

“I'd guess we here on HN are the people best equipped to prevent the worst. So the next time you help someone automate their customer support, ask yourself: How would I feel if my well-being depended on this? Because for some poor soul, it might. Is there a clear fall-back in case the AI fails horrible? Because, you know, they always do.” I don’t think we are that well equipped to prevent the worst. Maybe some entrepreneurs are but most engineers develop tools that can be used for good and bad. I think automation provides enormous benefits to society and we should keep pursuing it. To make sure it doesn’t end up with an abusive system is a political problem and should be addressed by rules and laws. In the last few decades the mantra was that the more money the psychopaths can make the better for society and screw the victims. That has to change. Society overall suffers if we have a few billionaires lording over the working masses. I am pretty hopeful that we can create systems that balance technological progress with concerns of social welfare. We have made big progress with environmental regulation and I hope we will do the same in other areas.