As we stand on the threshold of a new era defined by artificial intelligence, we must recognize that the tools we create are not neutral. They reflect our values, our blind spots, and our ambitions.
Inspired by the Hippocratic Oath of medicine, this oath is a call to conscience for those who build, shape, and deploy intelligent systems. It is not a legal code or a technical specification, but a personal and professional commitment: to put humanity at the center of innovation, to wield power with humility, and to ensure that intelligence, no matter how artificial, serves the common good.
This is The Oath of Humane Intelligence.
I swear to uphold this oath with honesty and humility, to the best of my knowledge and judgment, and in the service of humanity:
I will not create or deploy artificial intelligence systems that cause unnecessary harm, knowing that power without purpose invites destruction.
I will treat data as I would treat people: with dignity, care, and respect for consent, privacy, and the stories behind the numbers.
I will design, code, and deploy AI with humility, acknowledging the limits of my knowledge, the complexity of human systems, and the unintended consequences that may follow.
I will seek collaboration with ethicists, artists, philosophers, and the communities most impacted by the technologies I help create, recognizing that intelligence, artificial or otherwise, is not neutral.
I will not allow my tools to be used for oppression, manipulation, surveillance without accountability, or war without conscience.
I will champion transparency, interpretability, and fairness, and resist the allure of black-box power that cannot be explained or controlled.
I will measure success not in profit or efficiency alone, but in how the systems I build expand human flourishing, protect the vulnerable, and enrich our shared future.
Should I fail to live by this oath, I welcome scrutiny and accountability from my peers and from the public I serve.
In all things, I will remember that intelligence without compassion is merely calculation, and that the true test of wisdom is not what I can build, but whether the world is better because I built it.
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“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be” – Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night