Unbounded: 2 Mins Edgewise
Clause 0: AI ethics Gaza proves we need
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In grammar, a zero conditional is used for universal truths: If you heat water to 100°C, it boils. No exceptions. When X happens, Y follows — always.
We need a version of this in AI ethics. A ground rule. A red line.
That’s the role Clause 0 is meant to play: a clear, uncompromising starting point for ethical governance of artificial intelligence — not a nice-to-have, but a non-negotiable baseline. It’s not just a principle among many; it’s the condition that makes all the others meaningful. As Asma Derja, founder of the Ethical AI Alliance and the creator of Clause 0, puts it:
“Clause 0 is what should have been written — the foundational ethical safeguard that precedes all others. It is the limit that must not be crossed: that the use of AI, data, and cloud infrastructure must never enable or escalate unlawful violence, occupation, surveillance, or forced displacement.”
Yet right now, we are witnessing Clause 0 violations in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, especially Gaza, in real time — where AI-enabled military systems, predictive surveillance, and digital rights violations are being used in the systematic destruction of a people. In what many experts say meets the bar for genocide. This is not theory. It is happening now. And it demonstrates in the most gruesome ways why Clause 0 is so urgent, not optional.
And this matters far beyond Palestine. As I’ve written before, the most vulnerable — refugees, displaced people, the stateless — are often where these tech “tools” get tested. (Have you heard of Pegasus — guess where that was used in trial runs.) If they “work” in those conditions, they get sold as “battle-tested,” deployed, and scaled. Clause 0 is meant to inhibit that before it starts. It draws the ethical line not in the sand, but in code, policy, and the public conscience.
Asma and the Ethical AI Alliance have issued a call:
“We invite AI governance professionals, compliance leads, researchers, and engineers around the world to co-sign this letter [calling for Clause 0] — and stand with the Ethical AI Alliance and its global community in reasserting the basic conditions of responsible AI, starting with Clause 0.”
If you work in tech, policy, or public interest — read it. Sign it. Share it.
https://ethicalaialliance.org/clause-0
Our ethics must, most especially, apply in times of crisis and with the most vulnerable. That’s the bottom line.
AND *THAT* IS 2 MINUTES EDGEWISE, UNBOUNDED.