Systems that decide who gets a loan, who gets parole, and whose resume reaches a hiring manager demand scrutiny. AI ethics examines the moral questions raised by these systems, from fairness and accountability to privacy and autonomy.

The field sits between philosophy, law, and engineering. It asks who is responsible when an autonomous system causes harm, how to audit opaque models, and whether certain applications should exist at all. Facial recognition, predictive policing, and automated hiring all attract sustained debate.

Recurring concerns

• Bias encoded in training data
• Lack of transparency in decision-making
• Surveillance and consent
• Accountability when systems fail
• Concentration of power in a few companies

Regulation lags behind deployment. The EU AI Act and similar proposals aim to set rules, but enforcement remains uneven. Practitioners increasingly adopt internal review boards and impact assessments, though critics argue these measures are too voluntary.