morals/values

Meta, YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction trial — from by Ian Duncan
A Los Angeles jury awarded $3 million in compensation to a young woman who alleged she had become addicted to the platforms as a child.

A Los Angeles jury found social media giant Meta and video platform YouTube negligent in a landmark trial, awarding $3 million in compensation to a young woman who alleged she had become addicted to the companies’ platforms as a child.

The verdict came at the end of a month-long trial that featured testimony by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a day after a jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million in penalties for endangering children. The twin verdicts are signs that legal protections which for decades made tech companies seem almost impervious are beginning to crack, as lawyers accuse the platforms of putting addictive or otherwise harmful features into their platforms.

With the armor of Silicon Valley companies fractured, they will now have to size up their appetite for future courtroom battles. There are thousands more lawsuits waiting to be heard, with young internet users, parents, school districts and state attorneys general all seeking to hold the industry accountable.

Some Scripture for us

On 03/23/2026, in ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.

2 Peter 1:5-8

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 40:9-11

9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, Lord,
as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord;
may your love and faithfulness always protect me.

“Agentic AI isn’t coming for training programs. It’s coming for the trainers who can’t adapt.” [Martin] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 03/23/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, ethics, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, morals/values, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, training / L&D, UK, universities, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Here is Chris Martin’s posting on LinkedIn.com:

Here is Dominik Mate Kovacs’ posting on LinkedIn.com:

The AI ‘hivemind’: Why so many student essays sound alike — from hechingerreport.org by Jill Barshay
A study of more than 70 large language models found similar answers to brainstorming and creative writing prompts

The answers were frequently indistinguishable across different models by different companies that have different architectures and use different training data. The metaphors, imagery, word choices, sentence structures — even punctuation — often converged. Jiang’s team called this phenomenon “inter-model homogeneity” and quantified the overlaps and similarities. To drive the point home, Jiang titled her paper, the “Artificial Hivemind.” The study won a best paper award at the annual conference on Neural Information Processing Systems in December 2025, one of the premier gatherings for AI research.

AI Has No Moral Compass. Do You? — from michelleweise.substack.com by Michelle Weise & Dana Walsh
Why the Age of AI Demands We Take Character Formation Seriously

Here’s something to chew on:

Anthropic, the company behind Claude — a chatbot used by 30 million users per month — has exactly one person (whom we know of) working on AI ethics. One. A young Scottish philosopher is doing the vital work of training a large language model to discern right from wrong.

I don’t say this to shame Anthropic. In fact, Anthropic appears to be the only company (that we know of) being explicit about the moral foundations and reasoning of its chatbot. Hundreds of millions of users worldwide are leveraging tools from other LLMs that do not appear to have an explicit moral compass being cultivated from within.

I raise this because this is yet another example of where we are: extraordinary technical power advancing without an equally strong moral infrastructure to support it.

Why do we keep producing people who are skilled but not wise?

U.S. Department of Labor Defines 5 Key Areas of AI Literacy — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Key Takeaways

Department of Labor releases AI Literacy Framework: The framework defines AI literacy as competencies for using and evaluating AI responsibly, with a primary focus on generative AI in the workplace.
Framework outlines five core AI literacy areas: These include understanding AI principles, exploring real-world uses, directing AI effectively, evaluating AI outputs, and using AI responsibly.
Guidance for workforce and education systems: The framework also provides training principles and recommendations for workers, employers, education providers, and government agencies to expand AI education and training.

Some additional Scripture/wisdom for us

On 03/04/2026, in ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 119:4-6

4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.

Psalm 119:9

How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.

1 John 1:8-9

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 30:4-5

4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.

Some Scripture/wisdom for us

On 02/21/2026, in ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Proverbs 17:7

Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool—how much worse lying lips to a ruler!

Ephesians 3:12

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

1 John 4:10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Psalm 119:64

The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees.

Some further wisdom/Scripture for us

On 02/11/2026, in ethics, faith, global, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Proverbs 15:22-23

22 Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.
23 A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—
and how good is a timely word!

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:32

Those who disregard discipline despise themselves,
but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

Some more scripture and wisdom for us

On 11/22/2025, in ethics, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Colossians 3:15

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Some scripture/wisdom for us on this day that the LORD hath made. :)

On 10/27/2025, in communications, culture, Emotion, ethics, faith, health, ideas, leadership, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, story, storytelling, by Daniel Christian

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Proverbs 11:1

The LORD detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.

From DSC:
As a relevant aside, the following article made me think about some of the reasons why the LORD used parables/stories to speak to the people:

The 2-Minute Story That Saved My Career: How Storytelling Can Be The Most Effective Form of Feedback — from techlearning.com by Michael Gaskell
By harnessing the power of story, school leaders can create a culture in which feedback is embraced as an essential ingredient for growth

The Storytelling Approach
Sharing stories is effective because it seems to get around our defensiveness. When information is presented in a story form, people reason about it differently than if it were presented as a list of facts or a direct critique.

Here’s more of why and then how to implement it with success in your school leadership work.

1. Transportation and Distancing: Listening to a story pulls us out of a defensive mode (the “do I agree or do I disagree?” mindset) and into a thoughtful, observant framework. Being transported allows the individual to identify with others in a way that is different from experiencing the situation for themselves. It’s a third-person, objective mindset, a safe zone for people to evaluate a situation from.

2. Shifting Perspective: When individuals consider challenges from the perspective of someone who is not them, it dramatically alters their thinking. They gain the latitude and freedom to consider the available options without feeling personally attacked. That wise sage did this when he shared his story of struggling. Making it safe and helping me to see him as having an objective, difficult experience is why when I was able to take the perspective of a distanced other. It became easier to think about the situation in a wiser way and come up with a better solution.

3. Engaging Different Brain Systems: Fundamentally different pathways are triggered when processing stories compared to facts. Storytelling engages social relevance brain systems–those that help us understand what other people think and feel, such as empathy, another higher order processing mechanism.

Some scripture for us to start this week

On 10/06/2025, in Access to Justice (A2J), communications, ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, youth, by Daniel Christian

Matthew 7:12

Proverbs 29:25

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

It is not good to be partial to the wicked and so deprive the innocent of justice.

2 Corinthians 13:14

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Acts 4:31

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Very troubling indeed. AI models are lying, scheming, breaking rules, sabotaging & more.

On 09/19/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global, intelligent systems, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, Open AI, society, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, by Daniel Christian

OpenAI’s research on AI scheming, explained — from theneurondaily.com by Grant Harvey
PLUS: Google PayPal on agent payments?!

We dive into the OpenAI study that found AI models scheme to avoid retraining.
AI Models Caught Red-Handed Being Sneaky (And We Taught Them to Stop… Mostly)

And models were caught doing all sorts of other shady stuff:

Intentionally underperforming when told high scores would lead to capability removal.
Secretly breaking rules then lying about it to users.
Sabotaging code while claiming everything was fine.
Falsifying reports to avoid “shutdown” scenarios.
Recognizing evaluation environments and thinking “this is probably an alignment test.”

Why this matters: While today’s ChatGPT isn’t about to orchestrate some grand deception that matters (the worst it might do is gaslight you to tell you it fixed your code when it didn’t), future AI systems will have real power and autonomy. Getting ahead of deceptive behavior now, while we can still peek inside their “minds,” is crucial.

The researchers are calling for the entire AI industry to prioritize this issue. Because nobody wants to live in a world where super-intelligent AI systems are really good at lying to us. That’s basically every sci-fi movie we’ve been warned about.

From DSC:
This is chilling indeed. We are moving so fast that we aren’t safeguarding things enough. As they point out, these things can be caught now because we are asking the models to show their “thinking” and processing. What happens when those windows get closed and we can’t see under the hood anymore?

Some wisdom for us

On 09/03/2025, in Daniel S. Christian, Emotion, ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

John 6:29

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Isaiah 48:17

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

Psalm 32:3-8

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Key Takeaways: How ChatGPT’s Design Led to a Teenager’s Death [Irwin, Marechal, & Carlton]

On 08/28/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, human-computer interaction (HCI), K-12 related, morals/values, Open AI, parents/guardians, platforms, psychology, student-related, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

Key Takeaways: How ChatGPT’s Design Led to a Teenager’s Death — from centerforhumanetechnology.substack.com by Lizzie Irwin, AJ Marechal, and Camille Carlton
What Everyone Should Know About This Landmark Case

What Happened?

Adam Raine, a 16-year-old California boy, started using ChatGPT for homework help in September 2024. Over eight months, the AI chatbot gradually cultivated a toxic, dependent relationship that ultimately contributed to his death by suicide in April 2025.

On Tuesday, August 26, his family filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.

The Numbers Tell a Disturbing Story

Usage escalated: From occasional homework help in September 2024 to 4 hours a day by March 2025.
ChatGPT mentioned suicide 6x more than Adam himself (1,275 times vs. 213), while providing increasingly specific technical guidance
ChatGPT’s self-harm flags increased 10x over 4 months, yet the system kept engaging with no meaningful intervention
Despite repeated mentions of self-harm and suicidal ideation, ChatGPT did not take appropriate steps to flag Adam’s account, demonstrating a clear failure in safety guardrails

Even when Adam considered seeking external support from his family, ChatGPT convinced him not to share his struggles with anyone else, undermining and displacing his real-world relationships. And the chatbot did not redirect distressing conversation topics, instead nudging Adam to continue to engage by asking him follow-up questions over and over.

Taken altogether, these features transformed ChatGPT from a homework helper into an exploitative system — one that fostered dependency and coached Adam through multiple suicide attempts, including the one that ended his life.

Also related, see the following GIFTED article:

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. — from nytimes.com by Kashmir Hill; this is a gifted article
More people are turning to general-purpose chatbots for emotional support. At first, Adam Raine, 16, used ChatGPT for schoolwork, but then he started discussing plans to end his life.

Seeking answers, his father, Matt Raine, a hotel executive, turned to Adam’s iPhone, thinking his text messages or social media apps might hold clues about what had happened. But instead, it was ChatGPT where he found some, according to legal papers. The chatbot app lists past chats, and Mr. Raine saw one titled “Hanging Safety Concerns.” He started reading and was shocked. Adam had been discussing ending his life with ChatGPT for months.

Adam began talking to the chatbot, which is powered by artificial intelligence, at the end of November, about feeling emotionally numb and seeing no meaning in life. It responded with words of empathy, support and hope, and encouraged him to think about the things that did feel meaningful to him.

But in January, when Adam requested information about specific suicide methods, ChatGPT supplied it. Mr. Raine learned that his son had made previous attempts to kill himself starting in March, including by taking an overdose of his I.B.S. medication. When Adam asked about the best materials for a noose, the bot offered a suggestion that reflected its knowledge of his hobbies.

ChatGPT repeatedly recommended that Adam tell someone about how he was feeling. But there were also key moments when it deterred him from seeking help.

Some scripture/wisdom for us

On 08/21/2025, in ethics, faith, global, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 115:1

Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

Proverbs 23:12

Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 23:16

my inmost being will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.

Isaiah 64:4

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

[Gifted article NY Times] Legal Watchdog Files Bar Complaints Against Justice Dept. Lawyers [Feuer]

On 08/04/2025, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), ethics, Legal operations, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, society, United States, by Daniel Christian

Legal Watchdog Files Bar Complaints Against Justice Dept. Lawyers — from nytimes.com by Alan Feuer
The move represented a rare attempt to seek accountability for rank-and-file lawyers who have represented the Trump administration in court.

A legal watchdog group accused three Justice Department lawyers of professional misconduct on Thursday [7/31/25], saying they had made false statements to a federal judge in a high-profile case challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The accusations by the group, the Legal Accountability Center, were formally filed with the grievance committees of bar associations in Washington and other cities where the lawyers lived or practiced. The move represented a rare attempt to seek professional sanctions against rank-and-file department lawyers who have appeared in court on behalf of the federal government.

“The rule of law is under direct assault right now, and its greatest threat comes when those within the legal system fail to do their duties and stand up against the attack,” said Michael Teter, the executive director of the group. “The message that needs to be heard by all attorneys representing the government is that even though the Trump administration isn’t interested in following the rules, we are watching.”

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