Deontological Bars for AI Activism

Some actions in the AI safety debate might be ruled out not because they fail a cost‑benefit test but because adopting them destroys social equilibria or invites harmful second‑order actors. Framing movement tactics as potentially violating deontological norms (e.g., ‘‘don’t enable likely catastrophe’’) changes who can legitimately participate and which strategies are politically credible. — This idea reframes AI safety strategy as a norms problem: disagreements are not only about predictions but about whether certain forms of support or protest are categorically impermissible, which affects coalition‑building, regulation, and public legitimacy.