Ethical Machines

reid@virtueconsultants.com

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Season Finale: AI Paradoxes

July 02, 2026

Here are three paradoxes, according to Virginia Dignum, my guest today: 1. The more capable AI becomes, the more it reveals the richness and complexity of human intelligence. 2. Less bias in AI does not necessarily create more justice. 3. The pursuit of artificial superintelligence may ultimately reveal that humanity's greatest intelligence is collective, not artificial.We discuss the limits of computation, the dangers of confusing data with reality, why AI ethics often misses deeper soci...

LLMs are the Wrong Kind of AI

June 25, 2026

Jonathan Schaeffer thinks we're building AI the wrong way.While large language models have produced remarkable results, he argues that hallucinations, bias, and unreliability aren't bugs that can be fixed—they're consequences of the underlying architecture itself. In his view, LLMs are an important stepping stone, but not the path to the kind of AI we can truly trust.We discuss whether current AI systems are "good enough," automation bias, AI regulation, data centers, envi...

AI is Social Infrastructure

June 18, 2026

My guest, Mona Sloane, author of Predicted: How AI Is Restructuring Social Life, argues that AI has become part of our social infrastructure. Its predictive systems increasingly shape how we work, find information, build relationships, and navigate society.Mona worries that as prediction becomes embedded in more areas of life, we risk becoming less willing to deliberate, challenge assumptions, and shape our own futures. I push back on whether AI really should be understood as infrastructure a...