07. The Accountability Gap: When Compute Outruns Society

Cavemen with Nukes

Biologist E.O. Wilson once said something profound: “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”

In 2026, this has become a reality. Our bodies are still the same “original hardware” from 2,000 years ago—we fear predators and crave sugar. Our social institutions (law, education, social security) are still based on the logic of the Industrial Age: humans sell 8 hours of labor for survival resources.

Yet, the AI technology in our hands has evolved to a godlike level. This Mismatch is tearing our social safety nets apart.

1. The Accountability Gap

The most terrifying trait of an Agent isn’t that it makes mistakes, but that it cannot be punished.

The cornerstone of human society is the alignment of “Power and Responsibility”:

• If a doctor prescribes the wrong medicine, they lose their license or go to jail.
• If a driver hits someone, they are fined or detained.
• If an employee ruins a project, they are fired.

Punishment mechanisms are the only reason humans remain reliable. We have bodies; we fear pain, hunger, and loss of freedom.

But an AI Agent has no body.

• If an AI medical assistant gives a wrong treatment plan that leads to death, you cannot punish the AI. You can’t put it in jail (it doesn’t care), and you can’t withhold its salary (it doesn’t need money).
• If an autonomous driving system crashes into a crowd to avoid a dog, it has no moral burden; it is simply executing a weighted code path.

This is the “Accountability Gap.” AI has Agency but lacks Accountability. In this vacuum, all risks are transferred to the user. As a manager, you feel an unprecedented fear: you’ve hired a team of “eternally innocent” employees, and you are the only one who can take the blame.

2. Structural Unemployment: Not a Lack of Food, but a Lack of Meaning

In 2023, people comforted themselves: “AI only does repetitive work; it will create more new jobs.” By 2026, we must face the truth: Not many new jobs are being created, especially for junior white-collar workers.

Coding Agents have replaced junior developers. Legal Agents have replaced legal assistants. Marketing Agents have replaced copywriters and illustrators.

The horror of this unemployment isn’t “hunger” (productivity is so high that goods are abundant); it is the “Loss of Meaning.” For many, work is not just a way to make money, but an anchor for social identity.

• “I am a coder” = I am smart and logical.
• “I am an artist” = I am creative and have taste.

当 AI writes code 100x faster and paints 1000x better than you, your social identity collapses. Human society is completely unprepared for this Psychological Impact. Our education system still teaches children how to be “good tools,” but that era is over.

3. Asymmetric Power: Who Holds the Switch?

Another overlooked crisis is: AI capability is not evenly distributed.

In the past, if you had a hammer and I had a hammer, our power gap wasn’t huge. In the AI era, if you own a super-cluster of 10,000 Agents and I only have a free chat box, the gap is between a God and a Mortal.

• Giant corporations can use Agents 24/7 to monitor markets, auto-adjust prices, and generate tens of thousands of ads to bombard consumers.
• Ordinary people can only passively receive information in algorithmic echo chambers.

If this monopoly on compute is not broken, we face an extremely unequal society: Those who own the Agents rule the world, while everyone else is just a data contributor.

4. What Should We Do? The Return of Humanism

Facing this gap, we cannot expect AI to fix itself. We must redesign the “Human Rules.”

First: AI Liability Insurance Since AI can’t go to jail, companies using AI must be forced to buy high-coverage liability insurance. When AI fails, the victim must receive massive compensation. Let economic cost be the leash that restrains AI.

Second: Redefining “Work” We must accept a fact: Human value is no longer “Efficiency.” In the future, the most expensive services will be “Human-Provided Services.”

• “This article was written by a real human” will cost 10x more than AI-generated text.
• “A real human therapist” will cost 100x more than an AI chatbot.

Why? Because only a human can provide “Empathy,” and only a human can bear “Responsibility.” When a patient holds a doctor’s hand, they need more than a prescription; they need the weight of the promise: “I will do my best to save you.” AI cannot give that promise.

Summary

• Accountability Gap: AI has hands but no nerves; this is the greatest systemic risk.
• Meaning Crisis: Unemployment is essentially the loss of social identity.
• Human Premium: In an age where everything can be generated, “The person who dares to take responsibility” will become the rarest luxury.

After this chapter, we enter a colder reality: the moat created by capital and silicon.