Penicillin and asbestos.

By way of a modest proposal that we stop dividing ourselves into evangelists or sceptics when it comes to AI, and try to always treat it as both penicillin and asbestos. We have to try to behave as if we’ve just discovered the most powerful beneficial force and something that might prove incredibly destructive (even when we use it with the best of intentions). Because we have.

When it comes to the whole ethical challenge, we need to consider another useful duo: the bright spots and the extremes. What’s happening on the margins when it comes to both misuse and positive applications of AI? They’ll be our guide to what the mainstream looks like in the future.

In terms of bright spots and ethics: where is society taking regulation into its own hands? While we wait for governments and supranational bodies to regulate effectively (ahem) or for restraint from tech giants (double ahem), what are we doing as users and communities to define suitable boundaries?