alt Hacker NewsA tool that moralizes at you is defective. I don't expect the unix cp command to return an error or copy bits slower if it detects I'm using it on a pirated movie. Just like I don't expect my band saw to brick itself if it detects I'm cutting into my finger. It's not on these tool companies to enforce other companies' business models.
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Do you expect the biosynth tool to comply with a "invent turbo AIDS" prompt?
Ok, but I want my band saw to brick itself instead of cutting my finger.
A tool that is capable of moralizing at you or making decisions, is clearly not just a tool. I get that people want to keep the locus of accountability on humans, but insisting that coding agents are "just tools" is confusion.
A bit off topic but there are band saws that immediately stop when touching your finger, they're so fast that your finger remains unharmed.
the saw example is unfortunate as that's a (desired) feature on expensive saws. But also user explicitly wants to, not some techbro decides to.
we can't have nice things in the mass psychosis era.
even the legacy things -- the internet and general purpose computers -- are being enshitified. new things are being made with built-in enshitification.
Interestingly some saws do exactly that, and I'd say it's actually desired. But yes, this is for different reasons, and using that safety mechanism is a decision of the operator.