Ethics memos we actually pin above monitors

Long ethics PDFs age into wallpaper. We issue one-page memos with three bullets: what we optimize, what we refuse to optimize, and who can halt a queue. Annotators pin them above monitors where quota dashboards also live.

When quotas rise, the memo forces a conversation about whether the new target still matches the middle bullet. If not, we rewrite the memo publicly rather than whispering in Slack threads.

We rotate memo authorship through alumni so language stays fresh and slightly irreverent—enough to be read.

We also require a limitation bullet that names datasets we will not touch without extra review. That bullet saved us from a well-meaning partner who offered "free" medical transcripts.