UMass Boston

How does artificial intelligence change the people using it? What does the future of work look like in an age of increasing automation? How will brain-machine interface technologies impact our basic capacities? 

The Applied Ethics Center and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies have launched a long term collaboration to explore the ethics and politics of AI. The initiative involves the creation of three post-doctoral fellowships, public lectures, and a series of conferences and symposia.  

Research

The Ethics of Emerging Technologies initiative supports research on the nexus of philosophy, politics and artificial intelligence.

Recent publications supported by the project include:

• “AI and Phronesis” by Nir Eisikovits and Dan Feldman, published in Moral Philosophy and Politics
• “AI and the Traditional Grounds for Human Rights” by Nir Eisikovits, forthcoming as part of a symposium on the second edition of Claudio Corradetti’s Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralistic Universalism (Springer). To be published as an appendix in the second edition of the book.
• “A Review of The Ethics of AI and Robotics: A Buddhist Viewpoint” by James Hughes in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics 28 : 113-120
• "Workplace Automation and Political Replacement: A Valid Analogy?" by Jake Burley and Nir Eisikovits, published in AI and Ethics
• "The Post-Dystopian Technorealism of Ted Chiang" by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits in The Journal of Ethics and Emerging Technologies Vol. 32 No. 1 
• Eisikovits, Johnson, Markelevich “Should Accountants Be Afraid of AI? Risks and Opportunities of Incorporating Artificial Intelligence into Accounting and Auditing” Accounting Horizons 20(20) 2024
   

Policy Papers

• "The Democratic Metaverse: Building an Extended Reality Safe for Citizens, Workers and Consumers" by Alec Stubbs, James Hughes, and Nir Eisikovits
• "Emerging Technologies & Higher Education" by Jake Burley and Alec Stubbs with James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits 
• "The Ethics of Automating Therapy" by Jake Burley, James Hughes, Alec Stubbs, and Nir Eisikovits

Popular Media: 

The Applied Ethics Center is committed to disseminating research to the broader public. Below are some pieces aimed at a general audience. You can also find discussions related to the Ethics of Emerging Technologies on our podcast Ethics in Action.

• "There is No Such Thing as Robot Proofing" by Nir Eisikovits and Dan Feldman for Slate 
• "ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process" by Nir Eisikovits and Alec Stubbs for The Conversation 
• "AI is killing choice and chance – which means changing what it means to be human" by Nir Eisikovits and Dan Feldman for The Conversation
• "College could take place in the metaverse, but these problems must be overcome first" by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation
• "The slippery slope of using AI and deepfakes to bring history to life" by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation 
• "AI is an existential threat – just not the way you think" by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation 
• "AI isn’t close to becoming sentient – the real danger lies in how easily we’re prone to anthropomorphize it" by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation
• “War in Gaza: An ethicist explains why you shouldn’t turn to social media for information about the conflict or to do something about it” by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation
• “TikTok fears point to larger problem: Poor media literacy in the social media age” by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation
• “Newsrooms are experimenting with generative AI, warts and all” by Nir Eisikovits for The Conversation

In the News

• Is AI a job killer? IBM may think so, but it's all in how you use it. - The Boston Globe 
• ‘ChatGPT, tell me a story’: AI gets literary - Christian Science Monitor 
• Can AI programs be trusted to report the news? - Christian Science Monitor 
• Can TikTok help push climate activism mainstream? - The Boston Globe
• The promise and the pitfalls of everyday artificial intelligence. - Codcast by Commonwealth Magazine
• Your Girlfriend Might Not Be Real - Newsweek
• A technophobe’s guide to AI chatbots - The Boston Globe
• Mass. bill proposed to ban sales and operation of weaponized robots - The Boston Globe
• Why AI Can Seem Sentient - Science for the Public (WGBH)
• How AI is Changing Us - NTN24 TV
• “How AI-powered robots in law enforcement could become a tool for 'supercharging police bias'” – Nir Eisikovits with All Things Considered
• AI Ethics - Nir Eisikovits with Boston Public Radio
• “Why a Chatbot Therapist Could be Worse than No Therapist at All” - Nir Eisikovits with All Things Considered

Conferences

Past Conferences

• November 3rd—4th, 2023: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work. You can view talks from this conference here.  

Tech Literacy Initiative

The Applied Ethics Center has partnered with the City of Boston to create Tech Talk – a program that brings together UMass Boston faculty and youth leaders to discuss the social and psychological implications of social media and AI use by teens. Topics covered so far include privacy, the future of work, AI and writing, and relationships with chatbots. Find out more here: Tech Literacy Memo.