Taming AI with morals? Skeptical notes

If the risks that leading experts say are intrinsic to advanced AI systems are real, then there is little reason to expect that they can be contained, be it by political or ethical means. The reasons are partly to do with the technology itself, partly with the organization of the social world into which it falls, whose understanding is hampered by widely shared myths about governmental capabilities. Successful containment would require global regulation and a level of enforcement that would seem unattainable even in the absence of competing political, military, economic, and scientific interests, which drive AI’s unabated development despite growing awareness of the risks associated with its uncontrolled proliferation. Ethics has its own risks. Inflationary moralization only covers up our puzzlements and anxieties in the face of disquieting uncertainties, while potentially flaring up conflict rather than defusing it.