Hello from the Ethical Tech Project
It's been a while - here's what's happening.
Hi from the Ethical Tech Project! It’s been a minute since we’ve been in touch, and let’s be real, there’s a lot going on. Many people in our network are overwhelmed by the news and wondering how we got here - to a world of government-endorsed data breaches; bribery and corruption courtesy of meme coins; the demise of fact-checking on social media feeds; the rapid dismantling of consumer protection and regulatory functions; and real and present concerns about digital monitoring and surveillance. I think about the many times I urged my father to review his privacy settings over the years, and his consistent response that he had nothing to hide. Like him, most of us never thought we had anything to hide, but now we might wonder.
It didn’t have to be this way, and yet here we are. While tech and AI solutions have brought profound benefits to society, they have also brought equally profound harms, not the least among them the undermining of trust in institutions of democracy, and increasing societal polarization.
Here at The Ethical Tech Project, we’ve been honing our focus and mission. Our big audacious vision is to transform the tech innovation ethos from “move fast and break things” to “think first, then make things - things that are better for individuals, for your business, and for society more broadly.”
To that end, on April 2, we will be kicking off “The Ethical Tech Fellowship,” a program designed to educate, convene, and equip tech builders so they can make better decisions when designing, developing, and bringing to market tech- and AI- driven solutions.
Our pilot cohort of 18 engineers, product leaders, program managers, designers, and CEO/founders were selected from an incredibly competitive and impressive applicant pool of nearly 150.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress of our fellowship and introduce you to some of the participants in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, we’ll be heads down working to scale the program so we can meet the moment. If you are interested in helping us grow, please get in touch.
What We’re Reading on Ethical Tech This Week
Every week, we round up the latest in Ethical Tech. Subscribe now and also get our monthly digest, the Ethical Tech News Roundup!
WIRED - DOGE Is the Deep State
A shadowy group of unelected figures reshaping the federal government to their own benefit from the inside? Sounds familiar!
Reuters - Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump administration
In January Meta scrapped its fact-checking program, marking its biggest overhaul to its approach on politcal content in recent memory.
CNN - A crypto mogul who invested millions into Trump coins is getting a reprieve on civil fraud charges
A businessman who pumped $75 million into the Trump family-backed crypto token finds himself in a fortunate position this week as federal securities regulators are hitting pause on their civil fraud case against him.
The National Law Review - Texas AG Sues Allstate for Violations of Texas Privacy Law in First Enforcement Action Under a State Comprehensive Data Privacy Law
In case you missed it in January, the Texas AG sued Allstate.
BBC -Representation of BBC News content in AI Assistants
AI assistants risk misleading audiences by distorting BBC Journalism`
I taught organizational ethics for over 20 years. During that time I watched companies get more greedy, unethical and soulless. I see AI as a complete corporate takeover of humanity, especially in the developed world.