Ethics of Responsibility vs Ethics of Conviction

In Politics as a Vocation (1919), Weber distinguished two fundamentally different orientations toward moral action. The ethic of conviction (Gesinnungsethik) judges actions by their conformity to principles regardless of consequences. The ethic of responsibility (Verantwortungsethik) judges actions by their foreseeable consequences for the people affected by them. Weber regarded the ethic of responsibility as more demanding and ultimately more morally serious because it requires the agent to take ownership not only of her intentions but of their effects. The distinction maps directly onto the AI discourse: the Believer operates by the ethic of conviction — AI capability is good, acceleration is right, consequences will be absorbed — while the builder who operates by the ethic of responsibility asks not only whether the tool works but who is affected by its working.