AI dog collars

I came across an interesting framework of AI accountability, in an article by Olivia Farrar in Harvard Magazine (not yet online). The following are reading notes.First, Olivia brought up MyCity, which is an AI chatbot launched by New York City in 2024. As with other customer-service chatbots, the AI was trained on data about business rules and regulations, in order to answer people's questions about business rules and regulations. It probably answers quite a few questions competently but it's become infamous for jaw-dropping errors, such as claiming it's legal to fire workers for reporting sexual harassment, and claiming it's okay to serve cheese nibbled by a rat. This has been my experience with various chatbots on several commercial software. Their footprints are everywhere, and their developers are so pushy that I eventually tried them out. So far, every chatbot of this type I've tested has disappointed. They don't seem to be able to answer even simple questions, much less perform…

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