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Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
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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.

Download the ITEC Handbook

Wild Beasts: A Podcast About Ethics

"A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world." ~Albert Camus

“Wild Beasts” analyzes current events from the perspective of applied ethics. Who is responsible for creating a sustainable future for AI? Why are state legislators passing restrictive voting bills? What is woke capitalism? Who ought to have control over our bodies in virtual reality? What is the fate of social media? 

Listen to the Podcast

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2023 Student Project Spotlight

In a webinar recorded May 23, 2023 students from the 2022-23 Business Ethics Internship, Environmental Ethics Fellowship, Government Ethics Fellowship, and Hackworth Fellowship each presented a brief overview of their year-long, ethics-focused projects and internship placements. View student projects and explore their video presentations.

Access the Student Project Showcase

Featured Ethics Spotlights
Generative Artificial Intelligence including text, computer generated images.

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.

The U.S. Flag and Constitution, semi-automatic guns, a shooter with AR-15, and a human hand held in the air to block or stop the action.

The gun debate has again reached a fever pitch in the shadow of several horrific mass shootings. Ethics Center staff and faculty interrogate the moral and ethical issues associated with gun use and regulation.

Laura Sanchez, right, holds her 2-month-old son, Lizandro, while receiving a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from a registered nurse, Noleen Nobleza at a vaccine clinic set up in the parking lot of CalOptima in Orange, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021 that more than 80% of the people eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine in CA

While vaccines provide protection for individuals and communities against severe disease and death, this fight is far from over as we see infection rates climb, especially among children who cannot be vaccinated. Ethics Center staff and scholars analyze the critical questions in this Ethics Spotlight.

All About Ethics: Perspectives From Across the Center
8 photos of the same tree taken at different times of the year in 2 rows of 4, the last photo is highly pixelated. A pattern of random white blocks run across the image from the left and become aligned on the right.

We need to be discerning about AI usage--and understand its environmental cost.

Why we Need the Right to Housing by Liam McBride, 2022-23 Hackworth Fellow with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Liam McBride ’24 studies the key to addressing our homelessness crisis and examines the issues through six ethical lenses.

A fleet of planes trailing aerosols.

Is climate engineering a viable and ethical solution to slowing climate change?

An Industry Leader in Ethics Consultation

For more than 35 years, the Ethics Center has helped individuals and organizations make better decisions and includes offering fee-for-service options for organizations that want a customized approach to building training programs, case studies, and other materials.

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ESG Resource Center

Ethics Helps Companies Operationalize ESG Reporting

Companies are under extreme pressure from customers, investors, and the government to begin accounting for how they are performing in these non-financial matters, and this new set of resources will help them more efficiently operationalize ESG reporting.

Explore the Ethics and ESG Resource Center

Center News
Advisory Board Members Risë Pichon and Charmaine Warmenhoven

Ethics Center Welcomes Pichon and Warmenhoven Back to Advisory Board Roles.

Wild Beasts: A Podcast About Ethics

Ethics Center launches new "Wild Beasts" podcast series featuring ethical discussions from industry experts.

Announcing the Ethics Center's Spring 2023 Hackworth Grant Recipients

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.

View the Teaching Module

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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.

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Media Commentary

Brian Green, director, technology ethics, quoted by Scientific American.

David DeCosse, director, religious and Catholic ethics and Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics published in Marketwatch.

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Brian Green, director of technology ethics, quoted in TheStreet.

Like Birds, Ethical Issues Are Everywhere...

...often difficult to spot, but noticed by those in search of them.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University exists to help people see, understand, and work through ethical problems.

As an introduction to thinking ethically, we have created a framework for ethical decision making.

Learn About Our Framework

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