Virtual event explores ethical challenges of increasingly digital societies

A KU virtual event recently set out to examine topics that are impacted by emerging technologies across the digital, social, and physical landscapes. Navigating Our Worlds: Ethics in the Digital Age – A.I. and Human Dignity took place on Tuesday, April 28, and was supported by the Institute for Information Sciences (I2S), the Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration – School of Social Welfare, and The Commons at KU.

Organizers said the talk, one of a series on similar subjects, was an opportunity to explore complex challenges of our increasingly digital societies.

“In many international legal frameworks, dignity is recognized as a fundamental right possessed by all persons. Yet dignity remains a contested philosophical and moral concept, which makes it difficult to determine how it ought to be promoted or respected in novel cases,” says David Tamez, assistant research professor and managing director of the Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics, which is part of I2S. “As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into social institutions, it is essential that we clearly articulate the ways in which these technologies may affect human dignity. This event is intended to foster that conversation.”

The event was presented by two KU graduate students, Chamisa Edmo and Oluwaseun Sanwoolu.

Edmo is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, born for Blackfeet and Shoshone-Bannock. Currently pursuing a degree in computer science, her research explores decentralized tools for Indigenous technological sovereignty, AI bias mitigation, and ethical AI/ML systems. She is focused on ethically integrating Indigenous values into technology.

A doctoral candidate in philosophy, Sanwoolu’s research examines the ethical and social implications of AI, with a focus on how AI systems can be aligned with moral frameworks. She also explores how trust shapes human-AI interaction and how AI is transforming close personal relationships, including companionship, intimacy, and friendship in the digital age.