Future Good mailbag: Is AI mendacity? And different reader questions, answered.

[ad_1] For the previous few years, we’ve been asking Future Perfect newsletter readers what their greatest questions are. And whereas we normally reply privately, we figured we’d attempt one thing new: a reader mailbag!

This week, we’ve answered questions from three readers on traditional FP points: synthetic intelligence, animal welfare protection, and, after all, altruistic kidney donations. We’d love to do extra of those, so in case your query wasn’t featured — or privately answered — please keep in contact for an opportunity to be included sooner or later.

Join here to discover the large, sophisticated issues the world faces and probably the most environment friendly methods to resolve them. Despatched twice per week.

We’re additionally kicking off the method for our annual Future Perfect list of changemakers . We’re searching for consultants, humanitarians, activists, movers, and shakers in international well being, broadly talking.

If there may be somebody you wish to nominate, a subject you need defined, or a query you need us to reply sooner or later, fill out this form or e-mail us at futureperfect@vox.com. —Izzie Ramirez, deputy editor

By which strategies can one verify that no matter is produced by AI is actual and truthful?

For any query you’re contemplating asking an AI mannequin, the very first thing it is advisable to do is consider its epistemic nature: Is the reply knowable in an goal method? Or is it subjective?

The perfect use case is a scenario the place it’s onerous so that you can provide you with the reply, however when you get a solution from the AI, you possibly can simply test to see if it’s appropriate. I discover chatbots notably useful for semantic search — that's, circumstances the place I say, “There’s some psychology idea or concept in philosophy that principally says, XYZ, however I can’t keep in mind what it’s known as or who mentioned it, assist! ” The chatbot will give its finest guess, after which I can simply fact-check that.

<img alt="A person works at a computer with an illustrative image generated by artificial intelligence on the screen, showing code from various programming languages and a neural network diagram. " data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px" srcset="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-2152813969.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.7041717624677%2C100%2C94.591656475065&w=2400"/> An individual works at a pc with an illustrative picture generated by synthetic intelligence on the display screen, exhibiting code from varied programming languages and a neural community diagram. Oliver Berg/image alliance by way of Getty Photos

Identical with different empirical details which are verifiable by way of commentary or information — something from “What’s the boiling temperature for water?” to “Is it true that people share 98.8 % of their DNA with chimpanzees?” Whilst you can simply confirm the primary by your self by way of commentary, you’ll must depend on consultants’ information for the second. In that case, it is advisable to really feel assured that what’s produced by your fellow people is actual and truthful. We’ve developed instruments that improve our confidence, just like the scientific methodology, so in the event you’re consulting scientific consultants, you possibly can at the least have a point of confidence that they’re reporting observable and repeatable details.

Then there are domains which are inherently subjective. In the event you’ve obtained the kind of query for which there is no such thing as a One True Reply, you’ll wish to be extra hesitant about utilizing AI. I believe moral dilemmas fall into this class; irrespective of how a lot OpenAI tries to create a “ universal verifier ,” AI will all the time be restricted in its means to advise you on how to handle an ethical dilemma , as a result of there’s no One True Ethics . So, you may see what ideas an AI mannequin provokes in you, however don’t belief it as supplying you with the ultimate reply, particularly if what it’s saying appears off to you. In different phrases, you should use it as a thought companion, however don’t deal with it like an oracle.

—Sigal Samuel, senior reporter

Okay, after greater than 5 years as a vegan and 73 years on the planet, I wish to know why the nice majority of journalists constantly abandon the whole lot they discovered about objectivity in the case of a large number of points with the monster business often called “animal agriculture”? And I wish to know the way to fight that bias successfully.

It's a enormous blind spot for many of them. My finest guess is the conditioning is so sturdy. It begins as a toddler, is bolstered by the parental relationship, expands to prolonged household, mates, bolstered once more by all kinds of promoting media, leisure, and so on. Then they go to journalism college and are taught by instructors who even have this blind spot.

So later a reporter will go to a “rooster farm” and empathize with them once they inform their story about dropping hundreds of birds to avian flu — their sense of loss will not be in regards to the birds; it’s in regards to the cash. The reporter presents the story with out questioning the fundamentals. Issues like “the place are all of the male birds?” [and] “how is it attainable for anybody to suppose that 35,000 birds may very well be compelled to reside collectively in a constructing with out affordable entry to the outside?” and “why does it scent so unhealthy?” and “why do you've got permission to restrict animals with out their permission?”

I believe the reason being fairly easy: Journalists are individuals with their very own biases, identical to everybody else. That’s evident in how little protection manufacturing unit farming receives within the first place — it includes the abuse of billions of animals and hundreds of thousands of workers , and is a number one reason for lots of our environmental problems , but solely a handful of US journalists write about it full time (together with yours really). Most information shops and editors don’t take manufacturing unit farming significantly, which is why I’m proud to work at Vox, the place we do.

That’s probably the most elementary downside. However secondarily, whereas there may be loads of incredible protection of manufacturing unit farming, most of the time, I discover I’m disenchanted with lots of it, too. I see just a few recurring points:

Animal welfare is neglected or fully ignored. For instance, it’s not unusual for information tales about barn fires that kill hundreds of animals to conclude that “ no one was hurt ,” or for a narrative about tons of of hundreds of egg-laying hens killed to sluggish the unfold of chook flu to gloss over the brutal nature of that killing . Deference to meat producers and firms, or scientists employed by or affiliated with business, together with deceptive feedback that go unchallenged. “Agriculture” is usually cited as a significant supply of environmental air pollution, when animal agriculture is disproportionately accountable. Uncritical tales about proposed options to animal agriculture’s affect on the local weather, like methane-reducing feed components or manure biodigesters. Or uncritical protection of corporations that declare to deal with their animals higher than the competitors (see our recent story on Fairlife milk). I’ve written one story about how the media may cowl these points higher, and I hope to maintain masking that sooner or later.

— Kenny Torrella, senior reporter

Stories like Dylan Matthews’s years ago led me to analyze donating a kidney to a stranger. I requested my physician about it, and surprisingly, as an alternative of encouraging me to avoid wasting a life, he tried to speak me out of it.

He informed me that it's unlawful to donate a kidney to a stranger! I reside in Hong Kong, and possibly the rationale for prohibiting even the donation of a kidney to a stranger is the concern that individuals would secretly settle for fee from the kidney recipient. However I don’t know why. Anyway, I considered donating whereas on a trip within the US, however it will require an excessive amount of time, so I gave up.

Sadly, my second kidney will most likely die with me in outdated age, and somebody with kidney failure will needlessly die. Anyway, possibly one other story concept could be about paying kidney suppliers in international locations apart from the US?

Most individuals aren’t as beneficiant as you!

Within the US, solely a sliver of residing donations go to strangers. In the meantime, over 100,000 individuals sit on kidney wait-lists. And, as you point out, the necessity for kidneys is a world downside, too.

Many locations solely enable donations to family or recognized recipients (or require powerful ethics opinions for unrelated donors), whereas a minority — just like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia — supply a proper pathway for nameless Good Samaritan donors. In Hong Kong, the place you’re based mostly, you possibly can donate to a member of the family simply, however unrelated donations want official approval, and there’s no customary program for that. (That’s most likely why you have been discouraged.)

This patchwork exists for a purpose.

Within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, there was a severe trafficking and transplant tourism downside. In 2007, the WHO estimated that about 5–10 % of kidney transplants concerned trafficking, and international locations just like the Philippines and Pakistan turned hubs for international sufferers shopping for organs from determined locals.

Transplant consultants met in Istanbul in 2008 and wrote what turned the worldwide rulebook. The Istanbul Declaration pushed international locations to crack down on coercive gross sales of organs. Each nation had its personal legal guidelines, however started incorporating the declaration’s suggestions. Consequently, transplant tourism dropped sharply in Israel and the Philippines as soon as new guidelines kicked in, and tighter oversight turned the norm throughout Europe.

<img alt="The back of a red car has the sign ‘father of three needs kidney’" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px" srcset="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/gettyimages-1057315336.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5555555555556%2C100%2C88.888888888889&w=2400"/> An indication on the again of a automobile pleading for somebody to donate a kidney to a sick man in Ontario, Canada. Inventive Contact Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto by way of Getty Photos

However, in its efforts to close down trafficking, the declaration argued that compensating donors in any respect “leads inexorably to inequity and injustice.” There was little empirical information to again that declare, however as a result of it got here from a significant worldwide assertion it hardened into gospel: Organ donation have to be “ financially neutral .”

However neutrality isn’t really impartial in follow. Residing donors lose wages, take day without work work, take medical threat, and typically even face greater insurance coverage premiums after donating. We don’t name that exploitation — nevertheless it is a penalty for doing the suitable factor.

And it’s inconsistent with how we deal with different socially beneficial, dangerous, or disagreeable work. We pay individuals to do jury obligation. We pay scientific trial individuals. In lots of locations, we even pay plasma donors.

There's one putting exception: Iran.

It’s the one nation with a regulated system that pays kidney donors. Iran established this technique in 1988, and immediately performs about 2,500–2,700 kidney transplants yearly, and it claims to have primarily eradicated its ready record. It’s a proof-of-concept that incentives will be structured.

The US debate is inching in that course. Congress’s Finish Kidney Deaths Act would offer a federal tax credit to individuals who donate a kidney to a stranger. Donors would obtain a $10,000 tax credit score yearly for 5 years, so not fairly direct fee, however definitely a assist. The act, which has not been voted on but, acknowledges that donation includes actual prices: day without work work, medical dangers, restoration time.

The trail ahead globally isn’t throwing out Istanbul’s anti-trafficking work, however to construct on it with good incentives and guardrails so individuals can donate altruistically in the event that they wish to. Meaning really testing new approaches, however doing it fastidiously. Give donors impartial advocates, be certain that there’s time to suppose it over, and assure lifelong follow-up care.

Within the meantime, you won't be capable of simply donate your kidney to a stranger proper now in Hong Kong, however the needle is shifting in the suitable course.

—Pratik Pawar, Future Good fellow

Need extra Future Good? Sign up for our newsletter here .

You’ve learn 1 article within the final month

Right here at Vox, we're unwavering in our dedication to masking the problems that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the atmosphere, and the rising polarization throughout this nation.

Our mission is to supply clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to remain knowledgeable and engaged in shaping our world. By turning into a Vox Member, you instantly strengthen our means to ship in-depth, impartial reporting that drives significant change.