Joe Rogan's AI Government Idea Draws Stark Warning From Ethics Expert
University of Edinburgh Professor Shannon Vallor tells Newsweek that outsourcing judgment to AI can lead to "moral deskilling."
AI researcher Professor Shannon Vallor has warned that Joe Rogan's idea of AI playing a major role in government could lead to a dangerous weakening of human judgment and accountability. Governments, militaries and businesses already rely on AI for analysis and decision support, raising questions about the extent of authority such systems should have.
Vallor, the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and AI at the University of Edinburgh, told Newsweek that AI is already making decisions in various institutions, but cautioned that this trend extends to general-purpose AI chatbots, which she considered unreliable substitutes for human judgment. She emphasized that AI systems lack the emotional, partisan or personal biases that influence human decision-making, particularly in high-stakes situations such as war and conflict.
Vallor argued that organizations must carefully evaluate and control AI-related risks to prevent cognitive and moral deskilling, where people become less capable of critical thinking and evaluating complex situations themselves. While she acknowledged potential benefits in narrowly defined tasks like logistics planning and weather forecasting, Vallor stressed that human decision-makers must remain ultimately responsible for outcomes and failures.
Written by urgent.news from Newsweek's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
