Seeking Participants for Venture Ethics AI Risk Research Study
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is conducting a research study to understand which AI risks matter most to decision-makers during mergers and acquisitions, and how those risks are identified, assessed, and managed in practice through confidential interviews with senior deal professionals.
AI Ethics Literacy
A growing need, a growing list of issues, and a growing collection of resources from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
A list of AI ethics issues and relevant materials (articles and video recordings) from the Center’s website.
Before you Prompt
A creative and ethical inquiry into what it means to be a designer, or any kind of creator, in an AI-saturated world.
By Zara Shroff ’25, a 2024-25 Hackworth Fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
AI and the Environment: Sustaining the Common Good
On November 1, 2024 the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Next10 cohosted a daylong conference on AI and sustainability.
Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap
By José Roger Flahaux, Brian Patrick Green, and Ann Skeet
"Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap,” or, more briefly, the “ITEC Handbook,” offers organizations a strategic plan to enhance ethical management practices, empowering them to navigate the complex landscape of disruptive technologies such as AI, machine learning, encryption, tracking, and others while upholding strong ethical standards.
The Ethics of Immigration Enforcement
This Ethics Spotlight explores the ethical dimensions of immigration enforcement and detention in the United States—particularly the role of ICE under the current administration.
All About Ethics: Perspectives From Across the Center
Recording and transcript of a panel held on November 18, 2025, at Santa Clara University.
Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio's recent statements on conscientious objection demonstrate the relevance of Catholic moral teaching for Catholics who oppose authoritarianism, writes David E. DeCosse.
"Unpredictable behavior" is not a feature most people expect in toys.
Featured Ethics Spotlights
This Ethics Spotlight explores the impact AI is having on human dignity, part of the Markkula Center’s work in the international project New Humanism in the time of Neurosciences and Artificial Intelligence (NHNAI).
Governing, as defined by Oxford Languages, is having authority to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people. But how one goes about governing is another matter. In this Spotlight, Markkula Center staff and scholars analyze the role of compassion in the approaches used by people in power.
Throughout history, new technologies have disrupted society in different ways–some positively and some negatively–from steam-powered engines and electricity, to the Internet, and now again with artificial intelligence (AI); generative AI in particular in this instance. The creation of art, journalism, education, and the very truth itself have all been tested by the use of ChatGPT and other generative AIs. Markkula Center staff and scholars unpack some of the many related ethical dilemmas in this Ethics Spotlight.
Center News
Alumni from Ethics Center Hackworth Fellowship and Ethics Bowl programs returned to SCU as featured panelists at World Philosophy Day hosted by the Philosophy Department in the SCU College of Arts and Sciences.
A series of two-session workshops offered by the Ethics Center are helping SCU students and staff to identify ethical issues and the decisions that accompany them.
Article published by the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences highlights the Ethics Center's collaboration regarding the experience of vulnerable communities in the context of climate adaptation with principles of environmental justice.
Teaching Note: Interview of Theranos Whistleblower, Tyler Shultz
This teaching module for business ethics, leadership and management courses includes two videos, homework assignments, and class discussion, all designed to spark conversation about ethical issues associated with whistleblowers and corporate governance.
Evaluating Culture for Ethics
Our Culture Self-Assessment Practice recommends approaches to evaluating culture for ethics within companies and other types of organizations. The materials are primarily for members of an organization’s leadership team, including human resources and legal, but designed to engage a cross-section of leaders from various disciplines.
Media Commentary
Senior Director, Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet quoted by the Nikkei News Agency.
David DeCosse, director, religious and Catholic ethics, published by National Catholic Reporter.
Subbu Vincent, director, journalism and media ethics, quoted by The Associated Press.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by The Independent Alligator.