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Comment by reaperducer | Hacker News Reader

"The more data we have on what happens over the next few days is going to really accelerate our ability to retrain our AI systems and then help all of you accurately understand tenant risk moving forward into this new world"

AI seems to be like Javascript. It can be used for good, or it can be used for evil. And for some reason the evil uses are always out in front.

We need to fix people so they don't think this sort of thing is OK.

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> It can be used for good, or it can be used for evil.

It is used to make money. Evil seems to pay better these days.

You don't fix people, you fix incentives. This requires regulation to prohibit bad behavior and reward for good behaviors.

Evil will always pay better, until everyone is equally evil. There's an essay titled "Meditations on Moloch" which covers this topic quite well (including how you can't sufficiently fix incentives).

Interesting read, but I didn't see anything constituting a proof that it is impossible to fix incentives.

That's just not realistic, kinda like saying that we need to fix people to not commit murder. We'll never be able to stop bad behavior, but we can dis-incentivize it by illegalizing it.

People have ethics. Technology does not.

What ethics allow someone to think creating a "blacklist" of people who were unable to pay rent during the largest public health crisis in a century is a good idea? Five seconds of thought tells you this is just a way to target the most vulnerable among us.

Which is exactly the goal, every landlord would rather have ridiculously rich tenants, and most wouldn't give a single shit about what happened to the people who weren't.

Of course, but rich people are on to that scam already. I would wager that most of those who can afford to own a home do, simply because they don't want a landlord as a liability.

You'd lose that wager. There are many reasons why someone who could pay for a home would choose not to - e.g. maybe they do not plan to their in their current geographical area for a long enough period of time for it to be worthwhile, the cost of renting vs. owning in their area is low, they do not want to be responsible for maintenance, etc.

Edit: I now realize you said "most". You would not lose the wager.

Where is the data set on this?

What is creditworthiness if not a proxy for the same thing anyway?

Technology magnifies the ethical impact of the people who deploy it.

That's a priceless quote.

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