Bakalar got in on the ground floor of AI ethics by starting to talk and think about it in academic settings as a side-interest in the late 2010s. When the sector took off like a rocket in early 2023 after ChatGPT, it was these already-engaged people (regardless of degree field or technical skill) who had the personal and professional connections to get hired and promoted rapidly into lucrative "ethicist" positions at AI companies. A lot of them were poli-sci/public policy types, rather than philosophers or computer scientists.

> I've never worked at a company with an "ethics" employee. It seems odd. Can someone explain what the point is?

An ethics department is like a human resources department, but for broader ethics related matters.

HR: Ostensibly exists to support the employees, but really exists to shield the company from both a PR and legal liability standpoint when the company has a rift with one or more employees.

Ethics Department: Ostensibly exists to make sure the company acts ethically, but really exists to shield the company from both a PR and legal liability standpoint when the company acts unethically.

It is a good personal signal that you have never worked for a company with an ethics department or an ethics employee. The less ethical your company the more likely it is to have an ethics department.

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