Generative AI and the future of equality norms

This article will consider the disruptive impact of generative AI on moral beliefs and practices associated with equality, particularly equality of opportunity. It will first outline a framework for understanding the mechanisms through which generative AI can alter moral beliefs and practices. It will argue that actual and perceived cognitive ability is one of the determinants of social outcomes in modern information economies, and that one of the potential impacts of generative AI is on the distribution of this ability. Emerging, tentative, evidence suggests that generative AI currently displays an 'inverse skills bias', which favours those with less actual and perceived cognitive ability. This could have a disruptive impact on current norms of equality of opportunity, particularly with respect to the means and the purpose of such norms. The longer-term impact of generative AI on equality norms is less clear. Generative AI may shift the entire focus of equality norms or deprioritise the value of equality.