Exploring ethical challenges at Emory’s AI, Systems and Society Conference

March 16, 2025

Media Contact

Ashlee Gardner

On March 7-8, a group of scholars, practitioners and students converged at Emory’s Center for Ethics to attend the inaugural AI, Systems and Society Conference. Experts from across the country led interactive discussions focused on the philosophical, conceptual and mathematical bases of AI to address critical issues of fairness, decision-making and ethics.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Qualitative Theory and Methods (QTM) in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, the Emory Center for Ethics and the Center for AI Learning, the two-day event was organized around four session themes: Applied AI Ethics and Law, Socially Sensitive Attributes and AI, Modeling Fairness in AI and Prediction vs. Intervention.

Each session included individual talks and Q&A, along with four plenary talks held jointly with the Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable event.

“Emory is well-positioned to host an event on AI and ethics thanks to a robust interdisciplinary community fostered through the AI.Humanity initiative,” says Cliff Carrubba, co-chair of the conference and chair in the Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods. “The Emory Center for Ethics, serving as a hub for ethical inquiry across disciplines, further solidifies Emory as an ideal venue for discussions on the responsible development and application of AI.”

Alex Tolbert, co-chair of the conference and assistant professor in the Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods, said the elite roster of speakers was chosen based on expertise in philosophy, computing and causal modeling.

“We intentionally designed the agenda to explore practical, philosophically grounded solutions to AI’s contemporary challenges,” says Tolbert.

Based on the success of this first AI, Systems and Society conference, the organizing committee plans to make it a recurring event.

“The task of ethics is not only to avoid wrong but to do good,” says John Lysaker, director of the Center for Ethics. “This requires us to inject ethical considerations into rapidly developing fields like AI, and in a way that inspires rather than simply regulates the field. We’re excited to partner with QTM and the Center for AI Learning on this important venture.”

To view the full schedule and speaker bios, visit the conference website.

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