[alex43578]

Is it ethical for a water company to shutoff water to a poor immigrant family because of non-payment? Depending on the AI's political and DEI-bend, you're going to get totally different answers. Having people judge an AI's response is also going to be influenced by the evaluator's personal bias.

[pjc50]

I note in the UK that it is illegal for water companies to cut off anyone for non-payment, even if they're an Undesirable. This is because humans require water.

[alex43578]

How useful/effective would a business AI be if it always plays by that view?

Humans require food, I can't pay, DoorDash AI should provide a steak and lobster dinner for me regardless of payment.

Take it even further: the so-called Right to Compute Act in Montana supports "the notion of a fundamental right to own and make use of technological tools, including computational resources". Is Amazon's customer service AI ethically (and even legally) bound to give Montana residents unlimited EC2 compute?

A system of ethics has to draw a line somewhere when it comes to making a decision that "hurts" someone, because nothing is infinite.

Asan aside, what recourse do water companies in the UK have for non-payment? Is it just a convoluted civil lawsuit/debt process? That seems so ripe for abuse.

[pjc50]

Civil recovery, yes. It's not like you don't know where the customer lives.

Doesn't seem to be a problem for the water companies, which are weird regulated monopolies that really ought to be taken back under taxpayer control. Scottish Water is nationalized and paid through the council tax bill.

[ben_w]

> Humans require food, I can't pay, DoorDash AI should provide a steak and lobster dinner for me regardless of payment.

Bad example.

That humans require water, doesn't force water companies to supply Svalbarði Polar Iceberg Water: https://svalbardi.com

[alex43578]

Ok, do we have to give them McDonald's?

[ben_w]

Raw gruel and a vitamin pill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruel

Or whatever's cheapest for your local food supply. Every time I've done this game with supermarket produce, it comes under £1/day to support someone's nutritional requirements, currency tells you where I played that game.

McD is pretty expensive these days, I've seen cheaper even in the caregory of fast food.

[alex43578]

I'd love to see a return to the idea of government cheese, or at least align food stamps with WIC (WIC in US is a specific food aid program restricted to ostensibly healthier foods), instead of allowing the ridiculous moral hazard and waste posed by regular foodstamps.

[voidhorse]

I was thinking more about externalities, e.g. some company dumping chemical pollutants into a nearby water system, and not water companies themselves.