Making moral sense of using generative AI
Saturday 9 May 2026 10:00 to 15:30Speakers: |
Ella McPherson (Professor of the Sociology of Media and Technology, University of Cambridge) |
Location: |
EP Abraham Lecture Theatre, Green Templeton College |
The rapid appearance of generative AI into so many facets of our personal and professional lives means we all face choices of whether or how to use it. The generative AI industry is pushing us towards adoption, as are many voices from governments, our workplaces, and the media and social media. At the same time, others are urging caution and raising concerns about the harms of generative AI, and our own experiences of using it can be mixed.
Participants in this workshop will be able to transform their personal struggles around whether and how to use generative AI in their work into a collaborative and systematic way of thinking about the use of generative AI, grounded in sociological principles around morality and technology.
We will start by reflecting on our own professional and personal values, then we will work together to identify the values embedded in generative AI and assess how these do or do not align with our own. We will then have space to each develop our own manifestos, in our own creative ways, that make moral sense of using generative AI. Participants will leave the workshop with a personalised moral touchstone, developed in dialogue with scholarship and with each other, to help make decisions about generative AI in their work.
For an example, see Ella’s co-authored Manifesto on AI and Scholarship
About the workshop lead
Ella McPherson is Professor of the Sociology of Media and Technology, as well as the Anthony L. Lyster Fellow in Sociology at Queens’ College and Co-Director of Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights. She is also Director of Education of Cambridge’s School of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Ella’s research is concerned with new technologies and the production of knowledge, from social media and human rights evidence to generative AI and scholarship.
Register
This workshop is open to all current Green Templeton students, but places are strictly limited (first come first served) and registration is essential.
If you have any questions, email ruth.scobie@gtc.ox.ac.uk
