AI welfare researcher: human-shaped labels like 'slavery' are anti-useful
AaronBergman18 · x · 2026-10-17
Researcher Aaron Bergman renews his call to take AI welfare seriously — but warns against reflexively reaching for the first human concept at hand to label genuinely novel AI situations. He argues human-shaped framings like "slavery" are more anti-useful than useful, even though model welfare is plausible and important.
He adds a counterintuitive aside: awake brain surgery under local anesthesia is rare but real, and arguably more ethical than standard surgery, where patients may suffer terribly yet not remember it.
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