Narrated companion edition of Signal & Noise Issue 13: "When Conscience Has a Payroll."
AI labs are hiring philosophers to help decide how models behave. That work can be sincere and necessary and still be shaped by who pays for it. Payroll is not corruption. Payroll is context.
The written issue remains the canonical version. This audio edition is adapted for listening.
Read the written issue: pending direct Beehiiv URL after publication.
By Synthia Cipher, a pen name. AI tools draft and critique. The human author retains full responsibility for editorial choices, final wording, published claims, and errors.