In its inaugural year, the AI Ethics Lab at the Digital Studies Center, affiliated with the Digital Studies and Philosophy & Religion departments and led by the Principal Investigator Dr. Nate Walker, has achieved the following milestones in research, course development, public scholarship, and university service.
Research: With generous support from the Dean’s Digital Studies Research Fund, the Lab hired five undergraduate researchers majoring in digital studies, mathematics, biology, English, and political science. These students joined an international team to investigate the ethical and legal implications of artificial intelligence across societal sectors. The lab created a visiting scholar’s program, welcoming Dr. John Maldonado, and formed a research partnership with All Tech is Human and is in an ongoing collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Thanks to this network, Dr. Walker contributed to the white paper “Promoting and Advancing Human Rights in Global AI Ecosystems,” presented at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2025.
Course Development: Thanks to the generous support of the Chancellor’s Grant for Pedagogical Innovation and the Honors College, Dr. Walker launched three new undergraduate courses: AI & Society, AI & Vulnerable Humans, and AI Ethics & Law. The latter will be offered at the graduate level in the M.A. and M.P.S. Emerging Media programs and as an elective in both the M.S. Data Science and M.S. Computer Science programs.
Public Scholarship: In Spring 2025, Dr. Walker advanced the Lab’s public scholarship by (1) serving on the “Responsible Tech in the Throes of Innovation” panel at Utah Tech Week in Salt Lake City; (2) delivering a keynote on “From Smart to Wise Cities: Sustained Ethical Decision-making at Every Stage of the AI Lifecycle” for Virginia Tech’s Smart Cities for Good program; and (3) leading a workshop on “AI & Polling Research: Ethical Considerations” for the Public Religion Research Institute in Washington, DC. Looking ahead to Summer 2025, Dr. Walker will (4) deliver a keynote on ethical AI and refugee resettlement for the International Research Committee in New York; (5) participate in working meetings at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva and (6) the Royal Society’s Responsible Tech London; and (7) serve on an ethics panel at Ai4 in Las Vegas, North America’s largest AI industry event.
Community Service: As part of its service to Rutgers, the AI Ethics Lab supported the Institutional Review Board in New Brunswick by contributing to the development of a new Consent Compendium, which outlines best practices for the ethical use of AI in human-subject research. Thanks to the support of colleagues at the Rutgers University Foundation, the Lab also launched the Humans First Fund, a new initiative through which tax-deductible donations will help sustain and expand this important work.
Special thanks to the Provost’s Office, the Dean’s Office, the Digital Studies Center, the Department of Philosophy & Religion, the Honors College, the graduate programs in Emerging Media, Data Science, and Computer Science, and the Rutgers University Foundation for their meaningful support in launching the AI Ethics Lab in its inaugural year.