Ethics in AI Seminar - 'Barbies: Goods That People Buy But Wish Did Not Exist'
This is an in-person event only.
People buy and use some goods, including social media platforms, that they do not enjoy and wish did not exist. They might even be willing to pay a great deal for such goods, whether the currency involves time or money. One reason involves signalling to others; so long as the good exists, nonconsumption might give an unwanted signal to friends or colleagues. Another reason involves self-signalling; so long as the good exists, nonconsumption might give an unwanted signal to an agent about himself or herself. Yet another reason involves a combination of network effects and status competition; nonconsumption might deprive people of the benefits of participating in a network, and thus cause them to lose relative position. These are rapidly growing problems in an age of AI. Efforts to measure people’s willingness to pay for goods of this kind will suggest a welfare gain, and possibly a substantial one, even though the existence of such goods produces a welfare loss, and possibly a substantial one. Legal responses might take the form of nudges, norm changes, taxes, subsidies, mandates, and bans.
Date: 13 March 2024, 14:00
Venue: Please register to receive venue details
Speaker: Cass R. Sustein (Harvard)
Organiser contact email address: aiethics@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor John Tasioulas (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.oxford-aiethics.ox.ac.uk/event/institute-ethics-ai-seminar-barbies-goods-people-buy-wish-did-not-exist-person-only-oxford
Booking email: aiethicsevents@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editors: Marie Watson, Lauren Czerniawska, Paul Evans