Emerging challenges in AI and the need for AI ethics education
Open accessAbstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world in profound ways; some of its impacts are certainly beneficial but widespread and lasting harms can result from the technology as well. The integration of AI into various aspects of human life is underway, and the complex ethical concerns emerging from the design, deployment, and use of the technology serves as a reminder that it is time to revisit what future developers and designers, along with professionals, are learning when it comes to AI. It is of paramount importance to train future members of the AI community, and other stakeholders as well, to reflect on the ways in which AI might impact people's lives and to embrace their responsibilities to enhance its benefits while mitigating its potential harms. This could occur in part through the fuller and more systematic inclusion of AI ethics into the curriculum. In this paper, we briefly describe different approaches to AI ethics and offer a set of recommendations related to AI ethics pedagogy.
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Prior studies on AI in education offer guidance for helping students comprehend and apply AI.
“Existing research on AI in education provides insight on supporting students’ understanding and use of AI [2, 13]”
From Artificial intelligence in education: Addressing ethical challenges in K-12 settings (2022) · cites this paper as [13]
Section 5 (page unavailable) offers guidance for teaching students the ethical design of AI and helping them understand its ethical challenges. The paper focuses on AI ethics education for future developers, rather than students’ understanding and use of AI more generally. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredExisting academic integrity frameworks primarily address traditional forms of misconduct, such as plagiarism and cheating, focusing on moral reasoning and institutional codes rather than technology-mediated ethics.
“Existing academic integrity frameworks (e.g., Borenstein & Howard, 2021;Eaton, 2022;Macfarlane et al., 2014) primarily address traditional forms of misconduct, such as plagiarism and cheating, focusing on moral reasoning and institutional codes rather than technology-mediated ethics.”
From Academic Integrity and Students’ Ethical Use of ChatGPT in Higher Education (2026) · cites this paper as Borenstein & Howard, 2021
Section 5 (AI ethics instruction; page unavailable) says that some ethics teaching focuses on professional codes and that courses should cultivate ethical reasoning. It does not assess academic integrity frameworks or say they primarily address plagiarism and cheating rather than technology-mediated ethics. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThis focus on AI literacy will enable students to better comprehend and utilize AI technologies and prepare them for careers in the AI-dominated future job market.
“This focus will enable students to better comprehend and utilize AI technologies as well as prepare them for careers in the AI-dominated future job market [22].”
From New Era of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Towards a Sustainable Multifaceted Revolution (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
The Introduction says AI-related education can prepare students as future developers or adopters, while §5 describes skills transferable across professional contexts. But the paper focuses on ethical understanding and responsible development; it does not claim that general AI literacy will improve students’ ability to use AI technologies or prepare them for the AI-dominated job market broadly. Section 6 mentions emerging AI-ethics jobs, a narrower point. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe root of the problem of bias in AI is with people, even though there is a need to fix the bias in the data, within the algorithms, and in the outputs.
“As pointed out in [22], the root of the problem is with people, even though there is a need to fix the bias in the data, within the algorithms, and in the outputs.”
From New Era of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Towards a Sustainable Multifaceted Revolution (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
As the impact of AI becomes more pervasive, ethical considerations surrounding its deployment and use will become paramount.
“As the impact of AI becomes more pervasive, ethical considerations surrounding its deployment and use will become paramount [22].”
From New Era of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Towards a Sustainable Multifaceted Revolution (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
Few studies analyse in an integrated way the link between knowledge-based strategies and the development of students' legal and ethical skills.
“Although the specialised literature frequently addresses the benefits of AI in education, few studies analyse in an integrated way the link between these strategies and the development of students' legal and ethical skills [17-19].”
From Artificial Intelligence Governance in Higher Education: The Role of Knowledge-Based Strategies in Fostering Legal Awareness and Ethical Artificial Intelligence Literacy (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
Section 5 (AI ethics instruction; page unavailable) recommends teaching ethical reasoning and addressing legal issues in AI coursework. It does not assess how many studies analyse the link between educational strategies and students’ legal and ethical skills. Searches for the claimed research gap and for knowledge-based strategies found no passage addressing it. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBoth discourses underline the importance of knowledge, learning and education as conditions of successfully navigating ethical questions.
“Both discourses underline the importance of knowledge, learning and education as conditions of successfully navigating ethical questions [20].”
From From computer ethics and the ethics of AI towards an ethics of digital ecosystems (2022) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Borenstein, J., & Howard, A.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Borenstein, Jason
- Venue
- AI and Ethics
- Published
- 2020-10-06
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 61-65
- ISSN
- 2730-5953 (ISSN-L)
- 2730-5961
- PMC
- PMC7487209
- OpenAlex
- W3086535845
- Cited by
- 626
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 136 · 2025: 189 · 2024: 177 · 2023: 75 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 2
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- AI and Ethics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Artificial Intelligence in Education
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Keywords
- AI ethics education, AI harms
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