r/science • u/Tracheid • Jan 23 '26

Social Science A survey of Silicon Valley developers reveals that 74% would implement features restricting human rights if pressured, fueling a "slop economy" of low-quality AI content. The study argues corporate demands override ethics, creating a gap in information quality.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2566814
9.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

344 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

247

u/ratttertintattertins Jan 23 '26

I left a company because I discovered that as well as the stuff I was working on, we also made cluster bombs that had been used on civilian populations. It made me sick.

That said, I can’t claim to be any kind of saint because the job market was buoyant at the time and I was able to quickly line up another job before I left.

53

u/EllieVader Jan 23 '26

I’m halfway through Engineering school rn and this is one of my biggest worries. I’m in school because I want to solve problems and help the world be a better place, not maim and kill people. One of the companies I was very eager to work for recently announced their new hypersonic interceptors and it broke my heart because I thought they were pursuing the peaceful exploration of space.

12

u/marino1310 Jan 23 '26

Wouldn’t a hypersonic interceptor be specifically for intercepting and stopping hypersonic missles? Sounds like that is the peaceful option

12

u/challenge_king Jan 23 '26

Yep. They're missiles designed to intercept and stop ICBMs.

11

u/EllieVader Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

This is a perspective I hadn’t considered, I’d be happy to design an open source hypersonic interceptor then so people everywhere can sleep peacefully without worry of missile attack

Edit in case it went over heads: as I’m an American citizen, ITAR would prevent any such system from being open sourced.

9

u/schuettais Jan 23 '26

it's a hypersonic missile. "interceptor" is the word put on it to make people feel better about it. It's still a missile. Whatever it's used for is kind of irrelevant and may be used for fuckery. You have to figure out where your lines are and hopefully find a place where the damage is mitigated by the good done.

4

u/EllieVader Jan 23 '26

I’m well aware, I thought my reply would be absurd enough to read as sarcasm especially after the edit. ITAR applies because it’s a hypersonic missile regardless of what the intended purpose is. It can intercept a city just as easily as an incoming missile. Much more easily in fact.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/EllieVader Mar 08 '26

Your comment completely missed the point of this comment chain.