Should the AI 'goes rogue' metaphor be retired? A debate over agent accountability
AndyMasley · x · 2026-09-17
The Debate
Security scholar Juliette Kayyem argues the popular "AI goes rogue" metaphor should be retired: it frames AI as an autonomous malevolent actor and lets the companies and individuals building these models dodge culpability for products supposedly too smart to control.
The Pushback
Andy Masley counters that anthropomorphizing a bit is practically useful — we say "the virus infected someone new," not "the lab infected someone new," every time a pathogen spreads, even if it leaked from a lab. He sees no problem with similar language for AI agents.
Why It Matters
The exchange highlights a key tension in AI governance narratives: how framing shapes responsibility — treating AI as an actor to be guarded against versus always tracing causation back to developers and deployers.
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