Capitalism and Ethical AI

Can the invention of AI be ethical under capitalism? In recent news, the company OpenAI (the creators behind ChatGPT) will be switching their business model from nonprofit to for profit. OpenAI began in 2015 as a non-for-profit company with the sole goal of ensuring "artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity". Their priorities were safety and ethical research and development. This began to divert in 2019 when OpenAI created a for-profit arm to attract more investments for its expensive projects. However, they installed a cap that limited how much investors could make. This seemed to allow the company to fund its projects while still maintaining its morals and preventing too much sway from investors. This past month, OpenAI seems to be shifting into a fully fledged for-profit company and it has people feeling uneasy. Following this shift, the CEO, Sam Altman may be receiving 7 percent equity. Around the time of this shift OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer, Chief Research Officer, and Vice President of Research all announced they would be leaving the company.

This does not seem to bode well for the future of OpenAI or the research and development of advanced AI. Unfortunately, money makes our world go round. The necessary hardware, software, labor, and lab space is not cheap when it comes to technical innovation. As OpenAI expands, its only going to need more and more of it. Relying on investors will only allow for so much growth. With the cap of 100 times their initial investment, investors may not be as motivated to provide resources. Without a sizeable amount of income, the company will not be able to stay afloat, especially as many for-profit companies are working to achieve similar goals.

That being said, money is notoriously tied with greed and can lead to unethical practices if they are not careful. While the people within the company may work with the original model of safety and benefit of humanity in mind, their investors and customers may not. Deadlines to provide on deliverables can lead to cuts in safety, such as irresponsible and illegal uses of data. As OpenAI begins to make money, perhaps the values within the company will shift to meeting a bottom line. Tech is, after all, a very lucrative business. People feel like OpenAI has sold out, that they are failing to uphold their original standard of prioritizing the safety of humanity above all. With AI already making people nervous about the changing workforce and ever-shrinking privacy, this shift from a trusted company is unsettling.

It's a tricky situation to be in. Cutting edge research requires great minds, the best technology, and a lot of freedom. All of these require a massive source of funds, but more income is attached to more opinions and business practices. I think it's imperative to talk about this now, as the issue begins emerging, because it will set a precedence for following business who wish to do the same. I do not think that becoming for-profit will necessarily lead to unethical practices, especially if regulations are set immediately. While I remain hopeful that this is necessary to set an example for all AI businesses and ethical business practices of tech companies, I am concerned. Billionaire investors and CEOs have not been known for their ethics, but rather their insatiable hunger to add to their unfathomable fortunes.

So is it impossible for ethical AI under capitalism? I don't believe its impossible, but it is very very close. AI requires so many resources to create and expand. The current void of training data is leading to privacy and copyright violations. The need for more technology and employees leads to a need for more investors and customers, which shifts leadership. It ultimately depends on who is running things at the top level. What does the CEO care about more, the safety of humanity or a large check?