Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (original) (raw)

Families with young children protest the separation of immigrant families with a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building, Thursday, July 26, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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.

Access AI Ethics Literacy Resources

Students at computers with screens that include a representation of a retinal scanner with pixelation and binary data overlays and a brightly coloured datawave heatmap at the top.

Before you Prompt by Zara Shroff, 2024-25 Hackworth Fellow with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

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.

Access "Before you Prompt" Resource

AI and the Environment Conference Logo. An abstract with multicolored blue, green, and red lines representing water, land and the sun.

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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

A protester is arrested by police and U.S. Border Patrol officers outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

From an ethical standpoint, immigration law should be applied consistently and fairly, not selectively based on ideology.

Statue of Liberty in New York, New York. Image by PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay

While reasonable people may disagree about the best practical strategies to manage immigration and deportation, certainly a complicated issue, core ethical principles should be considered and followed at all times.

A United States Customs and Border Protection Officer checks the documents of migrants, before being taken to apply for asylum in the United States, on the International Bridge 1 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The current state of immigration in America reflects a systemic failure and only attention to addressing these long-term failures will set it on its correct path.

A large white house with columns and many windows. The house sits on a expansive green lawn with a large circular fountain and is framed by two green leafy trees. By Ana Lanza on Unsplash.

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.

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.

Center News

A display of different types of VR Goggles.

Ethics Center's Hackworth Research Grants supports the development of three educational resources supporting a guide for human subjects protections in immersive technology research.

Immigration Stamp on grey background.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics presents its latest Ethics Spotlight––a collection of essays authored by SCU faculty, scholars, and ethicists––on the ethics of immigration enforcement.

Lightbulb displaying energy saving and financial concepts with cutting-edge technology and creativity By Surasak_Adobe Stock

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Awarded Research Grant from Ford Foundation and Omidyar Network.

AI, student, school, college, homework, LLM, chatbot, chatgpt,, cheating, youth, assignment, essay. Generated with AI by ZeNpUsS via Adobe Stock.

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot become more common in classrooms, experts at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics are raising important ethical questions about how these technologies are reshaping education.

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

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Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by WLNS 6 News.

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Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by San Jose Spotlight.

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Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by OpenSecrets.

Joan Harrington, fellow, quoted by The San Francisco Standard.

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.