Ethical Machines How Society Bears AI’s Costs
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Oct 23, 2025 In this engaging discussion, Karen Yeung, an interdisciplinary fellow in law, ethics, and informatics, dives deep into the social and political costs of AI. She emphasizes how human greed and capitalist incentives, rather than technology itself, consolidate wealth and power. Yeung highlights the dangers of misinformation and the erosion of public discourse, as well as the responsibility of Big Tech as unaccountable gatekeepers. The conversation also addresses the need for regulation over unbridled innovation, urging collective action to shape a fair future with AI.
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People, Not Technology, Are The Problem
- People, not AI, drive the consolidation of wealth and power through choices about AI investment and deployment.
- Karen Yeung locates the problem in incentives within the global capitalist order that shape those human decisions.
Market Incentives Hide Social Costs
- Market incentives to maximise shareholder returns let firms externalise harms instead of internalising costs.
- Yeung argues this market failure is amplified in digital tech and accelerated by advanced AI capabilities.
Platforms Reshaped Public Truth
- Big tech platforms fragmented the public sphere and enabled misinformation by removing editorial gatekeepers.
- A handful of firms now act as gatekeepers whose deployment choices steer vast parts of people's lives.