Key Terms

AI accountability refers to the idea that artificial intelligence should be developed and utilized such that responsibility for bad outcomes can be assigned to liable parties.

AI decision-making refers to processes where artificial intelligence (AI) systems provide guidance or input to help humans make choices.

AI governance is the set of rules, regulations, ethical and technical frameworks, and similar mechanisms that guide the development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies.

Applied ethics is a field of study that examines how ethical theories and moral principles can be used to address real-world problems or questions.

In short, governing power in an autocracy is concentrated around one individual whereas democracies grant governing authority to the people or to governing officials through free elections.

Behavioral data is a kind of information that reflects the actions of an individual.

Climate ethics is a branch of applied philosophy that deals with moral considerations relating to climate change.

​​​Climate mobility refers to the movement of individuals or groups driven by the adverse impacts of climate change.

Cultural relativism is the view that ethical and social standards reflect the cultural context from which they are derived.

Cyber espionage refers to the practice of leveraging Internet and digital technologies to secretly acquire intelligence or sensitive information to gain a political or economic advantage.

Democratic backsliding, a phenomenon sometimes characterized as an “erosion,” is the process of declining integrity for democratic values or institutions in a political system.

An ethical framework is a heuristic tool that can be used by individuals or organizations to make better-informed decisions that have moral implications.

Ethical leadership emphasizes moral reflection and managing the trade-offs involved in making difficult decisions.

Ethics constitutes a reflection on morality that seeks to analyze, criticize, and interpret rules, roles, and relations within society.

Ethics washing is the practice of feigning ethical consideration to improve how a person or organization is perceived.

Generative AI refers to a class of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that produce outputs such as text, images, datasets, or other media in response to user prompts.

A governance framework lays out a set of rules, policies, organizations, and/or processes to inform how states and stakeholders should address local, national, or transnational issues.

Humanitarian law is a set of principles and treaties outlining the conduct of nations engaged in warfare that aim to protect combatants and civilians affected by conflicts.

Human rights are moral and legal norms covering the freedoms and protections that all individuals are entitled to by virtue of their humanity.

Intelligence-led policing (ILP) refers to a model of policing in which law enforcement officers utilize data collection and analytics technology to generate intelligence, with the goal of preventing criminal activity before it happens.

Intergenerational justice concerns the moral responsibilities shared among different generations. Theories of intergenerational justice analyze the scope of these obligations.

Internationalism is a principle that espouses increased cooperation between nations across political, economic, and cultural exchanges.

Just war is warfare that is justified by a moral or legal tradition. Just war theory presumes that there are legitimate uses of war but also sets moral boundaries on the waging of war.

Nuclear deterrence refers to a principle in international relations where the retaliatory potential and destructive force of nuclear weapons prevents nations from launching a nuclear attack.

Predictive AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that utilize statistical analysis and machine learning algorithms to make predictions about potential future outcomes, causation, risk exposure, and more.

Reconciliation is the process of repairing social ties and trust in the aftermath of violent conflict, or in societies undergoing a transition from totalitarian to democratic governance.