2025 is about to descend on us like a brewing storm from both the Pacific and the Atlantic at once. At the risk of overstating, ethics writ large is facing a ticking bomb that could explode and turn bad conduct into a necessary defense against both the dangers and wonders of Artificial Intelligence. That phrase, reduced to its bare initials, AI, is an oxymoron because actual intelligence is at the core of sentient beings, while artificial intelligence implies something made by humans.
Intelligence is organic. It is biological, nuclear, essential, and original. Artificial intelligence is best defined as inorganic, man-made, and unnatural. However, AI is here to stay, slay our dragons, make oligarchs even richer, and demoralize third-grade students and their teachers.
The heart, soul, and modus operandi of AI are algorithms perpetuating discrimination in decision-making, widespread data privacy violations due to advanced surveillance technology, the potential for autonomous weapons with life-or-death decision-making capabilities, manipulation through deepfakes and misinformation campaigns, and ethical dilemmas surrounding the development and use of highly personalized AI systems that could exacerbate societal inequalities; which require careful consideration and regulation to mitigate potential harm.[1]
Ethics are moral principles that govern our behavior. It is premised on acquiring knowledge, information, and safe, healthy rules for life, death, and the hereafter.
Traps are restrictions, confinements, blocks, ambushes, ensnarement, and bags designed to let miscreants have their way over good citizens, open-minded people, and the do-gooders who believe all the world is a bowl of cherries.
2025 is a year to behold because AI will storm its way into every corner of the U.S. in good, bad, and indifferent ways. That’s because it’s not organic and driven by algorithms. It will bounce back and forth between the Bible and Mein Kampf.
Moses wrote the Bible. He wrote the first five books and at least one of the Psalms (Psalm 90). Ezra the scribe wrote the books of Ezra and 1–2 Chronicles. Nehemiah wrote the book of Nehemiah.[2]
Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Adolf Hitler. It outlines his political ideology and plans for Germany and the world. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. It was edited first by Emil Maurice, then by Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess.[3]
AI will undoubtedly face ethical traps in 2025. Dr. Google says the following major ethical traps will befall us:
- Biased AI algorithms perpetuating discrimination in decision-making.
- Widespread data privacy violations due to advanced surveillance technology.
- The potential for autonomous weapons with life-or-death decision-making capabilities.
- Manipulation through deepfakes and misinformation campaigns, and ethical dilemmas surrounding the development and use of highly personalized AI systems that could exacerbate societal inequalities.
- All of which require careful consideration and regulation to mitigate potential harm.[4]
Forbes Magazine headlined these ethical dilemmas; “Will AI Save Or Harm Us? 3 Ethical Challenges For Businesses In 2025.”[5] (1) Saving lives and presenting disaster is paramount. Safety must come first. (2) Fighting the chaos. Will regulations catch up in time? (3) AI and the future of work. Will technology leave us far behind?
2025 will propagate even more ethical dilemmas than in past years because we proved ourselves to be more divided than ever in our 2024 presidential election preferences. While it will reveal itself in many ways, the Rule of Law Ethical Trap will be front and center. The Bookings Institute put it this way.
Anyone paying attention to major events of the day in the United States and around the world would know that the basic social fabric is fraying from a toxic mix of ills, inequality, dislocation, polarization, environmental distress, scarce resources, and more. Signs abound that after decades of uneven but steady human progress, we are digging a deeper and muddier hole for ourselves. The principal reason for this pessimism is not the material facts of decline — we have lived through worse times before — but the crumbling consensus around how to overcome such crises.[6]
2025 will also challenge Democracy, the Rule of Law, Ethics, and Equality in equal proportions. “For years, academics have debated to the point of exhaustion a dizzying array of proposed rule-of-law standards. And yet, bitterly divided political factions claim the flag of the rule of law. Dante once wrote that justice is so lovely that it is loved even by its enemies. This is even truer of the rule of law. The ideal imposes irritating constraints on those who exercise power, but it also enjoys a halo of legitimacy, which exposes it to rhetorical abuse by those who would retain the halo and minimize its costs.”[7]
The American Bar Association’s core promise is embedded in the Rule of Law rather than by authoritarian, superman notions of politicians who believe they are above the law. “The framers of the U.S. Constitution addressed this problem by dividing power among the different branches of government; legislative, executive, and judicial. This framework for government, known as the separation of powers, ensures that no one person is able to gain absolute power and stand above the law. Each branch of our government has some level of control or oversight over the actions of the other branches.”[8]
The ethical traps disguised in 2025 as AI, Authoritarianisms, Trumpisms, and Project 2025isms, can be avoided, or at least moderated by identifying ethical issues early on, slowing down decision-making, seeking advice from trusted individuals, understanding cognitive biases, and considering alternative solutions when facing the dilemmas about to engulf us.
[1] https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics
[2] https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691233178/who-really-wrote-the-bible?srsltid=AfmBOooEzQx2XKDoCSgxBXDXyGMEsFWPwDwWiwiiavSjQ6k3Nqzg-3uN
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf
[4] https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceweinstein/2024/12/11/will-ai-save-or-harm-us-3-ethical-challenges-for-businesses-in-2025/
[6] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-rule-of-law-is-under-duress-everywhere/
[7] https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/an-almost-sacred-responsibility-the-rule-of-law-in-times-of-peril/
[8] https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/global-programs/who-we-are/rule-law-initiative/what-is-rule-of-law/#:~:textthat%20underlie%20the%20storytelling%20art.
I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. Read my bio.
If you have an important story you want told, you can commission me to write it for you. Learn how.
I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. 
My latest novel is Hide & Be. 
If you have an important story you want told, you can commission me to write it for you. 