Comment by lebovic
1 day ago
> Every employee you talk to forced to pretend that the company is all about philanthropy, effective altruism and saving the world
I was an interviewer, and I wasn't encouraged to talk about philanthropy, effective altruism, or ethics. Maybe even slightly discouraged? My last two managers didn't even know what effective altruism was. (Which I thought was a feat to not know months into working there.)
When did you interview, and for what part of the company?
> knowing fully well that we'd do what the bosses told us to do [...] now that real money is on the line
This is a cynical take.
I didn't just do what I was told, and I dissented with $XXM in EV on the line. But I also don't work there anymore, at least one of the cofounders wasn't happy about it and complained to my manager, and many coworkers thought I had no sense of self preservation – so I might be naive.
The more realistic scenario is that a) most people have good intentions, b) there's a decision that will cause real harm, and c) it's made anyway to keep power / stay on the frontier, with the justification that the overall outcome is better. I think that's what happened here.
I do trust that you earnestly believe in the importance of ethics in AI - but at the same time, I think that may be causing you to assume that the average person cares just as much or similarly.
I've seen the same phenomenon play out in health-tech startup space. The mission is to "do good", but at the end of the day, for most leaders it's just a business and for most employees it's just a job. In fact, usually the ones who care more than that end up burning out and leaving.