Ethics in the Information Age                      Discussion Project: Steering the information economy

This project focuses on Daron Acemoglu's article, “AI's Future Doesn't Have to Be Dystopian" Basically the idea is to figure out what he thinks we need to do in order to ensure that the future of AI is not dystopian. The questions below walk you through his article to construct his case:

1.  How does Acemoglu characterize the US economy during the decades after WWII? How does he describe the very different economic developments after (roughly) 1980? What explanations does he offer for the differences?

2. Why does Acemoglu think that the "current trajectory" of AI development is not a good one? What are the bad results that he sees coming if we continue down the path we are currently on? (Aside from the brief remarks at the beginning of the article, see the section called "The world automation is making.")

3. What kind of automation do we need to try to generate, if AI is to have positive results ? (See the section called "The AI road not taken.")

4. How can we steer our economic institutions and organizations towards that kind of result? (See the section called, "How to redirect AI," but also the section called "The Market Illusion" for his reasons why we cannot trust competition in the market to generate results that are benefidial for workers and the public.)

5. What do you think of his proposals?