Featured Publication
Zhu, Q. (2023). Just hierarchy and the ethics of artificial intelligence: Two approaches to a relational ethic for artificial intelligence. Ethical Perspectives, 30(1), 59-76.

​Dominant approaches to the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been mainly based on individualistic, rule-based ethical frameworks central to Western cultures. These approaches have encountered both philosophical and computational limitations. They often struggle to accommodate remarkably diverse, unstable, complex contexts of human-AI interactions. Recently there has been an increasing interest among philosophers and computer scientists in building a relational approach to the ethics of AI. This article engages with Daniel A. Bell and Pei Wang’s most recent book Just Hierarchy and explores how their theory of just hierarchy can be employed to develop a more systematic account for relational AI ethics. Bell and Wang’s theory of just hierarchy acknowledges that there are morally justified situations in which social relations are not equal. Just hierarchy can exist both between humans and between humans and machines such as AI systems. Therefore, a relational ethic for AI based on just hierarchy can include two theses: (i) AI systems should be considered merely as tools and their relations with humans are hierarchical (e.g. designing AI systems with lower moral standing than humans); and (ii) the moral assessment of AI systems should focus on whether they help us realize our role-based moral obligations prescribed by our social relations with others (these relations often involve diverse forms of morally justified hierarchies in communities). Finally, this article will discuss the practical implications of such a relational ethic framework for designing socially integrated and ethically responsive AI systems.
Who We Are
LANCSET (Laboratory and Network for the Cultural Studies of Engineering and Technology) is an interdisciplinary research group at Virginia Tech. ​

Based in Virginia Tech, LANCSET is an open, inclusive laboratory & community consisting of scholars committed to studying technology and engineering from culturally responsive perspectives. The group is committed to making visible and challenging cultural values and ideologies prominent in training, practices, and policies surrounding engineering and technology, using empirical and experimental methodologies to study the effects of cultural values and norms on these environments. LANCSET explores cultural factors affecting technological ecologies responsible for deprioritizing, marginalizing, or excluding individuals and groups, working to incorporate cultural resources from overlooked, non-Western traditions – especially Confucianism – into the design of professional training and emerging technologies, for example, robotics and AI-enabled technologies. It also conducts philosophical and critical studies of cultural practices in engineering education (e.g., medicalization and psychologization).

If you are interested in exploring potential collaboration opportunities, please visit the Contact Us page to leave a message or send us an email. We thank you for your interest in our work and look forward to collaborating with you!​
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