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   'Society cannot function if no one is accountable for AI'  Jaron Lanier, the   
   godfather of virtual reality, discusses how far our empathy should extend to   
   AI in episode two of new podcast, The Ten Reckonings   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 15 Jan 2026 10:48:34 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   As AI spreads faster than the rules meant to govern it, technologists warn   
   that progress without human accountability risks undermining society itself.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   Whether we like it or not, we cant ignore AI. What started as a fun, gimmicky   
   chatbot on our desktops, albeit one that could talk a bit like a human, is   
   already taking jobs , accessing medical records , and reshaping workplaces.    
   We are rapidly approaching the point where the practical realities of    
   building and governing advanced AI systems must be confronted.    
      
   As the recent furor over indecent Grok-generated images on X, and the use of   
   Meta AI smart glasses to record women without their permission for social   
   media clicks has shown, the guardrails meant to help society cope with the   
   deluge of AI devices and new technologies seem seriously lacking.    
      
   Even before the latest controversies around AI-generated images, one of the   
   biggest shocks to me was the way some AI companies decided it was perfectly   
   acceptable to train their models on copyrighted material from authors and   
   artists without permission  and the fact that, despite a few lingering   
   lawsuits, they appear to have faced few consequences so far. Zero   
   accountability    
      
   All of this makes me wonder whether were really ready for a world in which AI   
   runs everything with zero accountability. Two people who have been grappling   
   with similar questions are technologist Jaron Lanier and Dr Ben Goertzel, CEO   
   of SingularityNET and founder of the ASI Alliance, in the next upcoming   
   episode of The Ten Reckonings podcast.    
      
   Society cannot function if no one is accountable for AI, says Lanier, who is   
   often described as the 'godfather of virtual reality'.    
      
   This new episode forms part of a series where these issues are explored in   
   depth. According to Goertzel, The ASI Alliances purpose is not to present a   
   unified position, but to create space for the worlds leading thinkers to   
   openly debate and, in doing so, help society reckon with the profound choices   
   ahead.    
      
   Lanier discusses the idea of AI sentience and its implications. He argues: I   
   dont care how autonomous your AI is  some human has to be responsible for    
   what it does, or we cannot have a functioning society. All of human society,   
   human experience, and law is based on people being real. If you assign this   
   responsibility to technology, you undo civilization. That is immoral  you   
   absolutely cant do it. Shaping the future    
      
   I agree with him. While accelerating toward more autonomous, decentralized    
   AGI could ultimately prove safer and more beneficial than todays fragmented   
   landscape of proprietary systems with weak guardrails, Laniers point about   
   human accountability is exactly right. Right now, AI companies seem to be   
   operating on the assumption that its better to beg forgiveness later than ask   
   for permission now, and that approach cannot continue.    
      
   And while there appears to be little hope of meaningful AI regulation coming   
   from the US at the moment, the rest of the world may be prepared to step in.   
   The UK regulator Ofcom is launching an investigation into X over Grok, and   
   Indonesia and Malaysia have banned Grok altogether.    
      
   At this point we all know that AI is going to shape our future, but the   
   question of responsibility still lingers. Governments are going to have to be   
   willing to step up because if they hesitate then the current lack of   
   accountability edges us into even more dangerous territory. Whether thats   
   through images, or medical advice, or the protection of our rights. Progress   
   without accountability isnt innovation, it's recklessness.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/society-cannot-function-if-n   
   o-one-is-accountable-for-ai-jaron-lanier-the-godfather-of-virtual-reality-disc   
   usses-how-far-our-empathy-should-extend-to-ai-in-episode-two-of-new-podcast-th   
   e-ten-reckonings   
      
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