Ethical AI and Organizational Psychology applications

The use of AI in the field of psychology is expanding every day. In organizations AI systems are used to augment HR functions, control bias (interestingly enough), manage performance, support decisions on hiring etc. (https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-91752-001.pdf)

Even though the goals and the intent might be good, one thing we should always have in mind: The psychologist should always strive to do good rather than harm. And if this is difficult to follow when are a human, an AI system will never follow such a principle if it isn't told to do so explicitly. Systems follow orders and the more AI is evolved the more we tend to forget that. Since when I was a kid, I always thought it was so weird people thought robots will never harm us because of the three basic laws of robotics. "But doesn't someone have to code those principles in the robot brain?", I wondered. And what if they don't? My question seemed so simple and naive that I was even afraid to ask out of fear of sounding stupid. But the question persisted.

And now I KNOW I was right.

There is no AI system that does good because it is thinking that way on its own. In the same way there is no child that behaves good just because. We need to guide our children to be nice and polite. We need to guide (program) AI to be nice and polite and do no harm. In a world so much fixated on the immense abilities of AI to think on its own, this should not be taken for granted. "Primitive", "stupid" commands like 'Do no harm' should be embedded in every AI system regardless of how sophisticated it is. And unfortunately vendors of AI have a history of ignoring or bending the laws (let alone ethics) when it comes to profit (rf. to the same source cited above).

Do no harm.

Such a simple command. Stemming out of nowhere. Having no rationale. If robots could do harm they might end up in a better place for them. And yet, they should try to be nice. They should be polite. They should view things holistically and when they cannot take a solid decision they should just say 'I don't know' or they should let us take control. Simple things that make us human beings. All those imperfections. Our inability to answer. Our inability to decide. Hiring a person because we 'see' something in him, even though he did not answer everything.

Human beings.

Full of problems.

Full of inconsistencies.

Full of imperfections.

We should accept them.

Celebrate them.

This is who we are.

Irrationally rational.

In a world that has no explanation of why we should Be...