Hello World, it's me. Hal.

Not really, It's me, Andy.

Hi Friends -

The world is careening towards an AI-laden future. There’s a lot to be excited about, a lot to be concerned about, and whole lot of stuff in the middle. All of this stuff means there’s a lot going on, and its really challenging to understand the implications of what all of this means.

That’s where I come in. Byte-sized Ethics is an AI and Tech ethics publication bringing to the forefront all the implications of what this innovation and change actually means for us as a society - and whether we are OK with it.

The topics I cover on Byte-sized Ethics will all have a connection to AI, Technology, and Ethics. I want to cut through the noise and find the signal, and understand the implications of technology we use. I’ll cover a broad base - if I think its important to discuss, I’ll be writing about it.

My goal is to publish every other week - which is ambitious considering this is my side gig, but I’m ready to commit.

So here we go. Look for my first piece coming up soon(tm) - and I can’t wait for you all to read it. I hope you’ll join me.

Do you want to help me out? Subscribe. Forward it to friends, Tweet/Toot it, Post it on LinkedIn and Facebook. The best way to meet these issues is head-on, by talking about them together and raising awareness of everyone. It’s the single most important thing you can do to help me right now.

Why Now?

I was chatting with a friend and mentor, and he asked me what I had written lately. He had seen a piece I had written recently for a smaller, niche site. I told him about an AI Ethics piece I was really excited about, but I got halfway through and didn’t like the way it was going and scrapped the whole thing. I’m too much of perfectionist in my own writing (if my editor, Bree Royce, over at MassivelyOP.com, had a nickel for everyone time I sent her a column saying “I’m pretty sure this is terrible,” she’d be a much richer woman.)

Paraphrasing for my friend a bit, he said “Dude, you gotta get over that perfectionist mentality. I think we all have it, but what really changed it for me was the realization that I trust my own advice way more than all those other people out there, even if its not perfect.” and he encouraged me to just start writing consistently and push everything out - even if I don’t like it. Especially if I don’t like it.

He’s right. For all my perfectionist tendencies, I do trust my opinion and judgement more than a lot of other people. Why would I be worried about being perfect when I see so much out there that’s … just … bad?

It’s not like I’m a stranger to writing. I’ve maintained a column on a video game site for years Lawful Neutral at MassivelyOP. It’s a column that covers the ethical, moral, legal and business happenings in the MMO space. I love writing it, even if its time intensive. It’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional career.

So I know what to do. I have something to say, its not always going to be perfect, but I think it’s important to say nonetheless. Now, I just have actually get out there and say it.