A selection of articles, op-eds, TV segments, and other media featuring Ethics Center staff and programs.
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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.
Joan Harrington, a former director and current fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, called the financial dealings between the California Partners Project and the other entities linked to Siebel Newsom and the governor “very tangled.”
“Why didn’t those other organizations donate directly to the nonprofit? Why did they go through Newsom?” Harrington said, referring to the governor soliciting behested payments to his wife’s political nonprofit.
“If they are truly caring about those issues, they should be giving directly, and if they’re not giving directly, we come to a natural conclusion.”
Joan Harrington, Ethics Center Fellow, quoted by the California Post.
In 2024, Sen. Dan Craven pulled off a rare fundraising triumph for a lawmaker who had only served one full term - he attracted more than $1.3 million in contributions to his campaign. A fifth of those donations were from a single lobbyist source, Kevin Wilkinson.
Simultaneously, Craven's campaign finance reports show he paid a business owned by Wilkinson’s wife Megan Wilkinson nearly $59,000 in fees for campaign consulting–a role she had not previously held with any other clients.
“Public service operates on trust, and when you have financial, professional and social relationships overlapping, leaders have the responsibility to tell, to demonstrate independence clearly. It shouldn’t be assumed,” said Davina Hurt, director of government ethics. “Here, there’s no transparency about what these relationships are, or are not.”
Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by The Charlotte Observer.
With the rise of AI, many feel that we are in danger of losing deeper human connection and interaction. Irina Raicu, director of internet ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, acknowledges this risk however remains hopeful about keeping these technologies human focued.
"We do have to be really thoughtful about how this technology changes us," Raicu said. But, "this is not God-given. This is technology that was shaped by other human beings who made certain choices. We can make different choices."
Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, featured in National Catholic Reporter.
AI developer Anthropic is in a major dispute with the U.S. government over the ethical and moral dimensions of AI development.
“You can imagine an alternate universe where Dario Amodei just said, ‘Okay, we’ll sign it. It’s no big deal.’ They would be doing fine as a business, and the rest of the world would not be talking about AI ethics right now. [But] this universe that we’re living in is one that has been fundamentally changed in a lot of ways because somebody decided to take an ethical stand. I think that’s important,” Green said.
Brian Green, director, technology ethics, quoted by the National Catholic Register.
n February, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan launched two new social media accounts on X and Instagram, each one designated as a city-backed account for official messaging amid City Hall complaints about the mayor’s longstanding practice of using his individual social media accounts for both city business and to promote his own personal brand.
With Mahan's personal channels turning their focus to promoting his gubernatorial campaign, these complaints have increased
“If staff time was used to build or manage the account in an official capacity, the cleaner and more defensible standard would be to create an entirely separate campaign site,” Hurt told San José Spotlight. “That includes not carrying over followers that may have been accumulated through publicly funded work," says Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director of government ethics.
Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by San José Spotlight.
Anthropic Public Benefit Corporation, one of the world's leading artificial intelligence companies, has been designated a "supply chain risk to national security" by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as the company is refusing to allow the government to use their system for creating and operating autonomous weapons as well as for mass surveillance of Americans.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, said Anthropic claims Claude has a built-in directive to make ethical decisions.
"I think what [they're] saying is that the models are not capable enough right now to support those uses safely, particularly the autonomous weapons. I think that's what the company is trying to say: can we just slow down and make sure we're doing the right thing here?" Skeet said.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by KTVU Fox 2.
