Ethical Acceleration

We believe AI can make life much better for everyone. This manifesto describes how to get there fast, without leaving people behind.

1. We want the future

   We are for technology. AI and robots can help cure diseases, create plenty for everyone and free us from boring work. We want to reach that future as fast as we can.

2. People first

   Push AI forward, but always check that it does not harm people, directly or indirectly. Direct harm is things like AI weapons and mass surveillance. Indirect harm is things like mass unemployment and a broken economy.

   When speed and people collide, people come first. The goal is to have both.

3. Harm is the real brake

   If most people lose out, they will turn against AI. In a democracy people vote, and they will ask for bans and strict rules. That can set progress back by years.

   It is not a small group that climbs to the future. It is all of humanity. We need acceleration that does not turn people against it.

4. Wages are customers

   Salaries are not only a cost. They are the money people use to buy things. One person's salary is another company's income.

   If AI replaces workers and nobody shares the gains, there are fewer customers, lower profits and more job cuts. Cut the wages, and you cut the customers.

5. This time is different

   Machines took jobs before, and we found new ones. But the Industrial Revolution took about eighty years. This change may take only a few years.

   First, machines took over our muscle work, so we moved to brain work. Now AI can do brain work too. Any new job we invent can be automated from day one.

6. Nobody can slow down alone

   Companies race each other, and so do countries. A company that does not automate loses to one that does. Each one acts sensibly, but together they remove their own customers.

   That is why we need shared plans and shared rules, not only good intentions.

7. Plan the road, not only the destination

   Many leaders describe a wonderful future where work is optional. That future may be real. But between today and then there are hard years. Who pays the rent? Who keeps the shops open?

   A destination without a route is a hope, not a plan.

8. Share the gains

   There are many ideas worth testing and phasing in now, before the shock:

   • Shorter work weeks for the same pay, so productivity turns into free time.
   • Shared ownership, so more people own a part of the machines.
   • Taxes on AI and robots, to pay for the transition.
   • Basic income, tested carefully and introduced step by step.
   • Safety nets and buffers, built before they are needed.

9. Speak up

   This will not happen by itself. Talk about it. Share it. Use #ethacc. When enough people speak up, politicians understand the problem and can act before it is too late.

Build the machines. Share the gains.

This manifesto is a starting point, not a finished policy program. It is meant to start a conversation.

#ethacc