“This ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they gave us yesterday, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation. So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
The difference is accountability.
Why not both
Honestly, I don’t think shame is applicable to corporations really. When you spread all the activity between hundreds and thousands of people, no one feels truly responsible for the company’s actions.
I’ve worked with/at some huge companies, and it’s not like CEOs or director boards are actively sitting and plotting genocides, while evilly laughing and curling their moustaches. They often don’t give a shit at all, they’d rather just chill on their yachts or whatever.
What happens is they set a guideline, like “we need X% amount of growth next year”. After that, managers start pitching ideas, product designers with their small teams compete for resources, someone somewhere finds a way to rise CTR or save some money here and there. But “let’s be evil lol #noshame” is nowhere to be seen. It’s just tiny ideas that are not that impactful on their own congregating into a vile mess.
That’s why regulations and high fines are so important. They help stop those ideas from being pitched.