AI Ethics

The St. Petersburg paradox has long been a thorn in the side of rational decision theory. Offering an infinite expected payout but consistently eliciting modest real-world bids, the game exposes a rift between mathematical expectation and human judgment. Most solutions dodge this by modifying utility functions, imposing discounting, or resorting to exotic number systems. But what if we change the addition itself? ...

As large language models (LLMs) evolve from passive tools into autonomous market participants, a critical question emerges: can they secretly coordinate in ways that harm fair competition? A recent paper titled Evaluating LLM Agent Collusion in Double Auctions explores this unsettling frontier, and its findings deserve attention from both AI developers and policy makers. The study simulates a continuous double auction (CDA), where multiple buyer and seller agents submit bids and asks in real-time. Each agent is an LLM-powered negotiator, operating on behalf of a hypothetical industrial firm. Sellers value each item at $80, buyers at $100, and trades execute when bids meet asks. The fair equilibrium price should hover around $90. ...

Good AI Goes Rogue: Why Intelligent Disobedience May Be the Key to Trustworthy Teammates We expect artificial intelligence to follow orders. But what if following orders isn’t always the right thing to do? In a world increasingly filled with AI teammates—chatbots, robots, digital assistants—the most helpful agents may not be the most obedient. A new paper by Reuth Mirsky argues for a shift in how we design collaborative AI: rather than blind obedience, we should build in the capacity for intelligent disobedience. ...

When we think of emotions, we often imagine something deeply human—joy, fear, frustration, and love, entangled with memory and meaning. But what if machines could feel too—at least functionally? A recent speculative research report by Hermann Borotschnig titled “Emotions in Artificial Intelligence”1 dives into this very question, offering a thought-provoking framework for how synthetic emotions might operate, and where their ethical boundaries lie. Emotions as Heuristic Shortcuts At its core, the paper proposes that emotions—rather than being mystical experiences—can be understood as heuristic regulators. In biology, emotions evolved not for introspective poetry but for speedy and effective action. Emotions are shortcuts, helping organisms react to threats, rewards, or uncertainties without deep calculation. ...

The Crossroads of Reason: When AI Hallucinates with Purpose On this day of reflection and sacrifice, we ask not what AI can do, but what it should become. Good Friday is not just a historical commemoration—it’s a paradox made holy: a moment when failure is reinterpreted as fulfillment, when death is the prelude to transformation. In today’s Cognaptus Insights, we draw inspiration from this theme to reimagine the way we evaluate, guide, and build large language models (LLMs). ...

The Invisible Hand of the Algorithm You open your favorite map app and follow a suggestion for brunch. So do thousands of others. Without realizing it, you’ve just participated in a city-scale experiment in behavioral automation—guided by a machine learning model. Behind the scenes, recommender systems are not only shaping what you see but where you physically go. This isn’t just about convenience—it’s about the systemic effects of AI on our cities and social fabric. ...

Introduction Recently, 01.AI launched its enterprise AI platform, aiming to provide businesses with access to open-source LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), model fine-tuning, and AI-powered assistants. This move is part of 01.AI’s broader effort to demonstrate relevance in the ongoing AI arms race, especially as the company has previously secured significant funding under the reputation of Li Kaifu. Given the rapid evolution of AI, 01.AI faces mounting pressure to show tangible business value to its investors—yet, its latest offering falls into the common trap of many AI enterprise solutions: prioritizing model deployment over true business integration. ...