Virtue ethics, by contrast, optimizes for looking like a virtuous agent rather than being effective at making good outcomes happen. An AI that is deeply committed to the virtue of honesty but doesn’t think carefully about the consequences of its actions is not one I’d want in charge of anything important.
This is an unfair read of the virtue ethics position. I’d also be against virtue ethics if it was optimizing for looking like one was virtuous. But the point of virtue ethics is to actually be virtuous, and the best way to live a virtue like, say, honesty, is thinking carefully about whether or not one is being honest in the situation.
This is an unfair read of the virtue ethics position. I’d also be against virtue ethics if it was optimizing for looking like one was virtuous. But the point of virtue ethics is to actually be virtuous, and the best way to live a virtue like, say, honesty, is thinking carefully about whether or not one is being honest in the situation.