•  116
    There Is No Techno-Responsibility Gap
    Philosophy and Technology 34 (3): 589-607. 2020.
    In a landmark essay, Andreas Matthias claimed that current developments in autonomous, artificially intelligent systems are creating a so-called responsibility gap, which is allegedly ever-widening and stands to undermine both the moral and legal frameworks of our society. But how severe is the threat posed by emerging technologies? In fact, a great number of authors have indicated that the fear is thoroughly instilled. The most pessimistic are calling for a drastic scaling-back or complete mora…Read more
  •  63
    Judicial Discretion and the Problem of Dirty Hands
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 19 (1): 177-192. 2016.
    H.L.A. Hart’s lost and found essay ‘Discretion’ has provided new insight into the issue of how legal systems can cope with indeterminacy in the law. The so-called ‘open texture’ of law calls for the exercise of judicial discretion, which, I argue, renders judges susceptible to the problem of dirty hands. To show this, I frame the problem as being open to an array of appropriate emotional responses, namely, various senses of guilt. With these responses in mind, I revise an example from Michael Wa…Read more
  •  55
    Taking the blame: appropriate responses to medical error
    Journal of Medical Ethics 45 (2): 101-105. 2019.
    Medical errors are all too common. Ever since a report issued by the Institute of Medicine raised awareness of this unfortunate reality, an emerging theme has gained prominence in the literature on medical error. Fears of blame and punishment, it is often claimed, allow errors to remain undisclosed. Accordingly, modern healthcare must shift away from blame towards a culture of safety in order to effectively reduce the occurrence of error. Against this shift, I argue that it would serve the medic…Read more
  •  39
    Artificial Moral Responsibility: How We Can and Cannot Hold Machines Responsible
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (3): 435-447. 2021.
    Our ability to locate moral responsibility is often thought to be a necessary condition for conducting morally permissible medical practice, engaging in a just war, and other high-stakes endeavors. Yet, with increasing reliance upon artificially intelligent systems, we may be facing a wideningresponsibility gap, which, some argue, cannot be bridged by traditional concepts of responsibility. How then, if at all, can we make use of crucial emerging technologies? According to Colin Allen and Wendel…Read more
  •  37
    The positive value of moral distress
    Bioethics 33 (5): 601-608. 2019.
    Moral distress in healthcare has been an increasingly prevalent topic of discussion. Most authors characterize it as a negative phenomenon, while few have considered its potentially positive value. In this essay, I argue that moral distress can reveal and affirm some of our most important concerns as moral agents. Indeed, the experience of it under some circumstances appears to be partly constitutive of an honorable character and can allow for crucial moral maturation. The potentially positive v…Read more
  •  30
    Moral Distress as a Symptom of Dirty Hands
    Res Publica 25 (3): 353-371. 2019.
    The experience of ‘moral distress’ is an increasing focal point of contemporary medical and bioethics literature, yet it has received little attention in discussions intersecting with ethical theory. This is unfortunate, as it seems that the peculiar phenomenon may well help us to better understand a number of issues bearing both practical and theoretical significance. In this article, I provide a robust psychological profile of moral distress in order to shed a newfound light upon the longstand…Read more
  •  28
    Recent medical and bioethics literature shows a growing concern for practitioners’ emotional experience and the ethical environment in the workplace. Moral distress, in particular, is often said to result from the difficult decisions made and the troubling situations regularly encountered in health care contexts. It has been identified as a leading cause of professional dissatisfaction and burnout, which, in turn, contribute to inadequate attention and increased pain for patients. Given the natu…Read more
  •  21
    Socially responsive technologies: toward a co-developmental path
    with Niël H. Conradie and Saskia K. Nagel
    AI and Society 35 (4): 885-893. 2020.
    Robotic and artificially intelligent (AI) systems are becoming prevalent in our day-to-day lives. As human interaction is increasingly replaced by human–computer and human–robot interaction (HCI and HRI), we occasionally speak and act as though we are blaming or praising various technological devices. While such responses may arise naturally, they are still unusual. Indeed, for some authors, it is the programmers or users—and not the system itself—that we properly hold responsible in these cases…Read more
  •  21
    Embedded ethics: a proposal for integrating ethics into the development of medical AI
    with Alena Buyx, Sami Haddadin, Ruth Müller, Amelia Fiske, and Stuart McLennan
    BMC Medical Ethics 23 (1): 1-10. 2022.
    The emergence of ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has led to an explosion of high-level ethical principles being published by a wide range of public and private organizations. However, there is a need to consider how AI developers can be practically assisted to anticipate, identify and address ethical issues regarding AI technologies. This is particularly important in the development of AI intended for healthcare settings, where applications will often interact directly …Read more
  •  16
    Digital twinning in medicine refers to the idea of simulating a person’s organs, muscles or perhaps their entire body, in order to arrive more effectively at accurate diagnoses, to make treatment recommendations that reflect chances of success and possible side-effects, and to better understand the long-term trajectory of an individual’s overall condition. Digital twins, in these ways, build on the recent movement toward personalised medicine,1 and they undoubtedly present us with exciting oppor…Read more
  •  14
    Embedded Ethics Could Help Implement the Pipeline Model Framework for Machine Learning Healthcare Applications
    with Amelia Fiske, Ruth Müller, Sami Haddadin, Alena Buyx, and Stuart McLennan
    American Journal of Bioethics 20 (11): 32-35. 2020.
    The field of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics has exploded in recent years, with countless academics, organizations, and influencers rushing to consider how AI technology can be developed and im...
  •  14
    In a current clinical trial for Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation, Dr. Samuel Tisherman of the University of Maryland aims to induce therapeutic hypothermia in order to ‘buy time’ for operating on victims of severe exsanguination. While recent publicity has framed this controversial procedure as ‘killing a patient to save his life’, the US Army and Acute Care Research appear to support the study on the grounds that such patients already face low chances of survival. Given that enrollment …Read more
  •  14
    Artificial intelligence and robotic technologies have become nearly ubiquitous. In some ways, the developments have likely helped us, but in other ways sophisticated technologies set back our interests. Among the latter sort is what has been dubbed the ‘severance problem’—the idea that technologies sever our connection to the world, a connection which is necessary for us to flourish and live meaningful lives. I grant that the severance problem is a threat we should mitigate and I ask: how can we…Read more
  •  11
    Toward Relational Diversity for AI in Psychotherapy
    American Journal of Bioethics 23 (5): 64-66. 2023.
    It is an understatement to say we live in an exciting time considering the increasingly widespread applications of artificial intelligence (AI). This observation is brought to the fore by Sedlakova...
  •  10
    In a current clinical trial for Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation, Dr. Samuel Tisherman of the University of Maryland aims to induce therapeutic hypothermia in order to ‘buy time’ for operating on victims of severe exsanguination. While recent publicity has framed this controversial procedure as ‘killing a patient to save his life’, the US Army and Acute Care Research appear to support the study on the grounds that such patients already face low chances of survival. Given that enrollment …Read more
  •  7
    Accepting Moral Luck and Taking Responsibility in Public Health Crises
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 32 (1): 34-40. 2023.
    We see cases of moral luck arising in recent times, as we face the uncertainties of provisional rules for navigating the coronavirus pandemic. How should we respond to rule-breakers, and how should they view themselves, when they cause harm inadvertently? Although some argue that guilt is unnecessary for any harm that may result from luck, this paper takes moral luck seriously and encourages consideration of the benefits to be achieved by expressions of self-blame amidst troubling circumstances,…Read more
  •  6
    In a critique of my work on ‘taking the blame’ as a response to medical errors, my position on the potential goods of individual responsibility and blame is challenged. It is suggested that medicine is a ‘team sport’ and several rich examples are provided to support the possible harms of practitioner self-blame. Yet, it appears that my critics have misunderstood my demands and to whom they are directed. With this response, I offer several clarifications of my account, as well as a reiteration on…Read more
  •  6
    Moral Distress as a Symptom of Dirty Hands
    Res Publica 25 (3): 353-371. 2019.
    The experience of ‘moral distress’ is an increasing focal point of contemporary medical and bioethics literature, yet it has received little attention in discussions intersecting with ethical theory. This is unfortunate, as it seems that the peculiar phenomenon may well help us to better understand a number of issues bearing both practical and theoretical significance. In this article, I provide a robust psychological profile of moral distress in order to shed a newfound light upon the longstand…Read more
  •  5
    AI Ethics and the Automation Industry: How Companies Respond to Questions About Ethics at the automatica Trade Fair 2022
    with Maximilian Braun, Franziska Schönweitz, Laura Lucaj, and Alexander von Janowski
    Philosophy and Technology 35 (3): 1-6. 2022.
    Against the backdrop of a recent history of ongoing efforts to institutionalize ethics in ways that also target corporate environments, we asked ourselves: How do company representatives at the automatica 2022 trade fair in Munich respond to questions around ethics? To this end, we started an exploratory survey at the automatica 2022 in Munich, asking 22 company representatives at various booths from various industrial sectors the basic question: “Is there somebody in your company working on eth…Read more