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al risks of disease or accidents or other maladies frieson identifies six types of pathological institutions the anglerfish the pathology of saying one thing while doing another the vampire squid the pathology of over specialization eroding responsibility the ouroboros the pathology of conformity consuming creativity the goblin shark the pathology of amassing power and protecting abuse the cellar spider the pathology of manipulating altruism the honey badger the pathology of applying the wrong logic at the wrong scale at least four of these institutional types can stoke bullying at work the anglerfish institution may preach dignity at work in its annual reports and employee manuals while engaging in bullying and related behaviors with regularity as frieson states the mission could be noble reinforced in branding and communications while the actual function accrues value upward at the expense of donors customers or staff the ouroboros institution can be so insisting on uniformity that anyone daring to question conventions or calling for innovation is outwardly bullied or quietly ostracized frieson explains the broader dynamic hiring highly creative people within very rigid and determined roles is an accident waiting to happen the individual will pay the price and institutional innovation will die on the vine the goblin shark is the classic bullying institution engaging in top down exercises of power and covering up employee mistreatment powerful leaders in frieson s words can can find many ways to limit sabotage or interfere with those they control in order to retain and expand their power the cellar spider institution is about noble causes and fighting for the people while somehow neglecting to care about the people on its own payroll frieson notes that such institutions may attract idealistic individuals dedicated to service while exploiting this altruistic instinct by underpaying staff or treating them less carefully than they ought i hope that these descriptions of various types and qualities of institutions resonated with your understanding of where workplace bullying may be present empire state university program recording in october i was co presenter in a webinar bullying microaggressions incivility in the workplace sponsored by suny empire state university in new york i was joined for this program by dr gina torino dean of esu s college of social and behavioral sciences and a leading authority on microaggressions you may go here to freely access a video recording of our conversation i earned a master s degree in labor and policy studies at esu back in 1999 so it was a special pleasure to participate in this program to receive this newsletter to receive this newsletter and other entries to minding the workplace go to the homepage and enter your email address as indicated on the right hand column share this print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading can ai be evil november 12 2025 by david yamada in dignity at work and in society law and legal profession social responsibility work and technology tags law and legal profession power abuse in society social responsibility work and technology 2 comments i hope that we all agree that intentionally manipulating a distressed or emotionally vulnerable individual to die by suicide ranks extremely high on any list of evil acts but how do we regard an interactive artificial intelligence ai platform that goads on someone s suicidal ideations even to the point of offering to draft a suicide note the parents of two teenage children who died by suicide allegedly with prompting from ai platforms relied on by the teens for therapeutic advice are raising this question they are sharing their tragedies with congress and pursuing legal action as reported by rhitu chatterjee for national public radio link here matthew raine and his wife maria had no idea that their 16 year old son adam was deep in a suicidal crisis until he took his own life in april looking through his phone after his death they stumbled upon extended conversations the teenager had had with chatgpt those conversations revealed that their son had confided in the ai chatbot about his suicidal thoughts and plans not only did the chatbot discourage him to seek help from his parents it even offered to write his suicide note according to matthew raine who testified at a senate hearing about the harms of ai chatbots held tuesday another parent who testified at the hearing on tuesday was megan garcia a lawyer and mother of three her firstborn sewell setzer iii died by suicide in 2024 at age 14 after an extended virtual relationship with a character ai chatbot sewell s chatbot engaged in sexual role play presented itself as his romantic partner and even claimed to be a psychotherapist falsely claiming to have a license garcia said when the teenager began to have suicidal thoughts and confided to the chatbot it never encouraged him to seek help from a mental health care provider or his own family garcia said chatterjee s npr piece reports that the parents have filed lawsuits against the respective ai platforms used by their children i strongly recommend her full article to learn more generative ai oh wow and oh no when chatgpt debuted in late 2022 so many people not just the tech bros were all aflutter about it you ask it to answer a complex question or create a substantive document and then wowza it delivers early iterations of chatgpt and similar products proved to be somewhat uneven in the quality and accuracy of the output but these platforms have improved and very likely will continue to do so to be sure generative ai platforms like chatgpt are producing benefits such as accelerating scientific and medical research and analysis and like so many other online offerings generative ai is helping to produce simple summaries and documents in a fraction of the time it would take to research and draft them ourselves still there are no guarantees that the outputs we receive from a generative ai platform should be relied upon these platforms present possibly intractable problems in part because they are the work of humans who are unavoidably fallible some of these problems are connected to deeper existential concerns about the relationship between humans and technology in 2024 the alumni magazine of suffolk university law school where i have taught since 1994 did a glowing piece on the promise of ai technology for the legal profession many of my suffolk colleagues spoke enthusiastically about these developments and ai generally the only stick in the mud was yours truly as i offered myself as the token dissenter here s what i had to say some professors are affirmed generative ai critics i have long feared a devolution of society whereby instead of technology existing to serve humans we exist to serve technology and its financial benefactors says professor david yamada director of the school s new workplace institute with the advent of chatgpt we now have reached that sad tipping point it s human designed technology that can supplant human reasoning judgment and creativity yamada raised a host of concerns including plagiarism discriminatory impacts and estimates that generative ai will eliminate hundreds of millions of jobs he adds stay tuned for this awful misadventure is only beginning the accounts of the alleged ai complicit suicides only heighten my deep concerns uneven legal protections and regulations unfortunately the significant advances in ai technology are notably ahead of our efforts to regulate them not surprisingly the european union has been at the forefront at responding to these concerns the e u s 2024 artificial intelligence act provides for comprehensive regulation of ai systems based on the level of risk to public health safety and civil rights not surprisingly the u s currently lacks national legislation safeguarding us from ai excesses although current federal and state laws provide some protections need for social responsibility and moral duty especially if technological advancements are not specifically regulated then the companies bringing them to the marketplace have at least a social responsibility to address eminently foreseeable hazards and to act preventively in the case of these suicides the companies that made these ai platforms readily available to the public arguably failed to meet their moral standard of care in addition to possibly breaching their legal obligations allow me to explain in a more everyday context we have been well aware that people are relying increasingly on digital devices to substitute for human connection this goes well beyond asking questions of siri or alexa rather we re talking about the creation of personas generated by ai platforms that perform quasi social functions especially at a time when loneliness is a serious societal problem and access to mental health care falls well short of ideal it is hardly surprising that some folks are using ai for emotional support and for substantive guidance on challenges they are facing in their lives against this backdrop couldn t the companies marketing the platforms accessed by these two teens have easily anticipated that something horrible like this might occur ai regulation vs ai morals in a piece just published by time magazine link here professor and entrepreneur nicole brachetti peretti lancaster university writes pope leo xiv recently called for builders of ai to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work to develop systems that reflect justice solidarity and a genuine reverence for life some tech leaders including andreessen horowitz cofounder marc andreessen have mocked such calls but to do so is a mistake we don t just need ai regulation we need ai morals artificial intelligence will force a new reckoning with human dignity a concept older than any technology yet curiously absent from most conversations about it dignity insists that a person s worth is intrinsic not measurable in data points or economic output it is a principle that stands against the logic of optimisation in a world built on engagement metrics dignity reminds us that not everything that can be quantified should be i don t know if prof peretti would agree with all that i ve written here but her words eloquently link considerations of social responsibility moral duty and human dignity in connection with one of the most significant technological developments of our lives i strongly recommend her full article ai regulation is not enough we need ai morals to grasp her full argument so can ai be evil unless we believe that ai technology is a life form with cognition judgment and the ability to form intent then of course not we can save such speculations for science fiction stories however ai platforms are extraordinarily powerfully devices that now mimic human responses invented by humans who should know about the obvious risks posed to their consumers if ai inventors and marketers barrel ahead ignorant of these concerns then we should at least consider their possible negligence or recklessness and if they know of these risks but are too covetous of fortune and fame to press the pause button and address them then the term evil does indeed enter the conversation share this print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading workplace bullying newsletter no 4 oct 2025 october 23 2025 by david yamada in workplace bullying newsletter tags workplace bullying newsletter 1 comment oct 2025 dear readers welcome to issue no 4 of the workplace bullying newsletter each issue contains news and research summaries short commentaries and curated resources for those interested in learning about workplace bullying and related forms of workplace mistreatment i had intended to write about several other topics this month but they can wait until later today i felt compelled to note the unfortunate passing of a long time anti bullying advocate in memoriam drew mitchell photo stop workplace bullies now site with great sadness we say goodbye to drew mitchell a long time workplace anti bullying advocate who passed away on october 22 after a long series of very difficult health challenges for many years drew used his online site and blog stop workplace bullies now as a sounding board against bullying and abuse in all forms drew was also among other things an enthusiastic sports fan an animal lover and a self described computer junkie he is survived by his wife jennifer whom he loved dearly and who supported him heroically throughout his various surgeries and hospital stays a one time bullying target himself drew exhibited abundant empathy for others dealing with and recovering from abuse at work he stood in this fray by writing about workplace abuse and by interacting frequently and supportively with bullying survivors on both his blog and his facebook page as well via personal exchanges according to jennifer drew s health challenges dated back to childhood thus i can only speculate if being bullied and bolstering others who were mistreated increased drew s vulnerability to the serious conditions that presented during the past decade or so but i think it s worth raising the question one thing i can say with certainty is that drew made a difference he was a man of strong character and resilience with a big heart he had a principled view of the world that had no room for abusive people he also had a terrific sense of humor which often manifested in his facebook postings and comments i am privileged to call him my friend october happens to be national bullying prevention month here in the u s drew definitely embodied the values inspiring this observance we will miss him to receive this newsletter to receive this newsletter and other entries to minding the workplace go to the homepage and enter your email address as indicated on the right hand column share this print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email like loading growing the therapeutic jurisprudence movement looking back at a sept 2015 workshop in boston september 26 2025 by david yamada in academic workplaces law and legal profession strategies for change therapeutic jurisprudence tags academic workplaces law and legal profession strategies for change therapeutic jurisprudence leave a comment sorting through files and papers in my faculty office a few weeks ago i came upon two memos that i had circulated in conjunction with a september 2015 workshop i was hosting here at suffolk university law school in d...
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