A selection of articles, op-eds, TV segments, and other media featuring Ethics Center staff and programs.
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics does not advocate for any product, company, or organization. Our engagements are intended to provide training, customized materials, and other resources. The Markkula Center does not offer certifications or seals of approval.
OpenAI is joining forces with a group called the Parents and Kids Safe AI coalition to bring together parents, teachers and community groups with a goal of keeping children safe when they use artificial intelligence reports Scott Budman from NBC Bay Area.
"There's been a real struggle to try and do it right," says Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics. "It's really tricky because at the same time it's a library, a museum, and a porn shop, and a source of fraud and misinformation, but also a school."
Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by NBC Bay Area.
Nearly 150 retired federal and state judges have filed an amicus brief supporting AI company Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Trump administration for designating it a “supply chain risk,” reports CNN. Additionally, ethics experts and advocacy groups have also raised concerns the potential long-term ramifications of the Trump administration’s actions in this matter.
Irina Raicu, director of internet ethics asks, "What happens if you don’t want to do something that they’re asking you to do?” “Is there a way for businesses to hold on to their own ethical guidelines and contract with the government?"
Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by CNN.
"Ethics experts are raising concerns after state Treasurer Stacy Garrity campaigned at a gala hosted by a firm from which she purchased millions in bonds in her official state role," Spotlight PA reports.
Davina Hurt, Ethics Center's director of government ethics says, “It's positive she had this self-reflective movement,” said
As an elected official, Hurt said, “You want to be in every room to see everybody. But when you arrive to this role, you need to be very thoughtful about what rooms you sit in and how you separate the individual from the public benefit.”
Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Spotlight PA.
A little-known gap in the United States organ donation system is that once you've opted in, by checking a box on your drivers license for example, there is no clear, nationally binding way to opt out if you later change your mind–even if you've later unchecked that box in a different state.
"Respect for autonomy — our ability to make our own decisions (self-determination) - allows for both 'yes' and 'no' decisions and for changing one's mind," says Margaret McLean, a bioethicist at Santa Clara University, and Ethics Center senior fellow.
McLean also says if a donor does revoke their consent, "revocation by that person should carry the same ethical and procedural weight as the initial authorization, perhaps more."
Margaret McLean, Ethics Center senior fellow, quoted by CBS News.
In a city with many dogs and few public trash cans, this is the question dividing one San Francisco community. Seven ethicists, including Ethic Center's Senior Director of Leadership Ethics, Ann Skeet, weighed in.
The unanimous conclusion? All seven ethicists agreed that dog owners need to take their poop baggies home or put them in a public bin.
Skeet says, it comes down to two ethical considerations: virtue and the common good.
“Virtue framing asks, is this option that I am considering going to make me the person that I want to be?” Skeet explained. The common good framework asks you to consider whether putting the poop in someone else’s bin is good just for you or for everyone.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by The San Francisco Standard.
Ethics Center Director of Technology Ethics, Brian Patrick Green, is among a group of Catholic Moral Theologians and Ethicists who filed a "friends of the court brief," or amici curiae in support of Anthropic in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of War.
The scholars position is that Anthropic "was acting as a responsible and moral corporate citizen" and "not as a threat to the safety of the American supply chain," reports the National Catholic Reporter, and they argue that "lethal autonomous weapons problematically obscure human agency, dangerously shifting responsibility away from human decision-makers to machines."
Brian Green, director, technology ethics, featured in National Catholic Reporter.
Donald Trump, Jr.'s involvement with predication markets has raised concerns from experts about a potential conflict of interest.
“Just the perception that people have that Donald Jr. himself might have inside information because of his easy access to the president, I think presents a problem for the prediction market companies, because you also want the people that are participating in them to feel like the information flow there is free flowing,” said Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by NJ.com.
Despite a surge in AI use, public trust of AI is in decline, reports Kate Wieczorek via Forbes.
"Even prior to Defense Department negotiations, many are concerned about ethical AI. A survey of 3,000 Americans by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics found that 82% of people care if AI is ethical and 55% believe AI companies are not considering ethics when developing AI."
"Ethics in the age of AI," a survey commissioned by the Markkula Center, is referenced by Forbes.
