Brian Ball On Turning AI Ethics Into Practice
AI Standards Stack #10
Podcast
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Background: In this episode, Brian discusses how philosophy can help shape the development of trustworthy AI, drawing on his work in ethics, misinformation, and AI governance, as well as Northeastern's interdisciplinary Master's programme in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence. The conversation explores how philosophical concepts such as knowledge, reasoning, metacognition, and human values can inform AI system design, helping developers move beyond technical performance to consider broader societal impacts.
The discussion also examines Brian's 3D Model of Ethical AI Practice, which embeds ethical thinking throughout the design, development, and deployment lifecycle, alongside the role of standards, regulation, and organisational governance in translating ethical principles into practice. Topics include the spread of misinformation, lessons from Brian's Polygraphs research on social networks and belief formation, AI literacy, open-source models, AI sovereignty, and the balance between managing risks and maximising societal benefit. The episode concludes by arguing that responsible AI should focus not only on preventing harm, but on using AI to augment human capabilities and deliver meaningful public value.
Guest:
Brian Ball is Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University London. He works in the theory of knowledge, as well as philosophy of mind, language, and artificial intelligence. A Canadian-British dual citizen, he was educated at McGill University, then the University of Oxford, where he was subsequently a Lecturer at St Anne’s and then Balliol College.
