Technology, Society and Decision-Making: An ESDiT Impact Dialogue

Description

How can ethical principles and fundamental rights shape technology standards, organisational governance and everyday decisions? This dialogue brings external practitioners and ESDiT researchers together to explore three challenges in translating responsible AI principles into practice.

Moderator: Marcel Verweij, Professor of Philosophical Ethics at Utrecht University, Director of the Ethics Institute, and ESDiT Management Board Member
 

Dilemma 1: AI and Fundamental Rights: What Can We Standardise?

The EU AI Act makes fundamental-rights protection an important part of AI regulation. But how can standards operationalise fairness, non-discrimination and human autonomy without reducing complex, context-dependent rights to metrics and checklists? And who decides what counts as sufficient protection?

• Questioner: Alicja Halbryt, AI Trust Consultant at Nemko Digital
• Respondents:
  • Philip Brey, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Technology at the University of Twente and ESDiT Programme Leader
  • Giles Howdle, Postdoctoral Researcher at Utrecht University’s Ethics Institute and ESDiT Co-Coordinator for New Methods

Dilemma 2: AI Governance: What Does Effective Governance Look Like?

Policies, risk assessments and oversight procedures can demonstrate that AI governance structures exist, but do they show that governance actually works? This discussion explores what effective AI governance looks like in practice, and what safeguards are needed to ensure that governance can be evaluated, challenged and improved over time.

• Questioner: Alcja Halbryt, AI Trust Consultant at Nemko Digital
• Respondent: Uğur Aytaç, Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy at Utrecht University and ESDiT Co-Coordinator for Democracy, Justice & Solidarity

Dilemma 3: AI in Care: Autonomy, Human Connection and the Boundaries of Care

AI and smart technologies in care settings and people’s homes raise questions about autonomy, safety, and human connection. How can we balance the duty to protect people with their right to make their own choices, and where do the boundaries of care lie when technologies influence behaviour or take over aspects of human support? The discussion explores AI literacy, responsibility, and the boundaries between care, protection, and paternalism.

• Questioner: Rick Roelofs, Psychologist and Innovation Advisor in Dutch disability care, Practitioner at Odion
• Respondent: Anna van Oosterzee, Lecturer in Medical Ethics at the University of Twente and former ESDiT Research Fellow

The dialogue concludes with an open Q&A, inviting the audience to join the discussion and reflect on how ethical AI principles can be translated into meaningful practices and decisions.