AI Ethics Now
Tom Ritchie, IATL, WIHEA, University of Warwick
AI Ethics Now is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complex issues surrounding artificial intelligence from a non-specialist perspective, including bias, ethics, privacy, and accountability. Join us as we discuss the challenges and opportunities of AI and work towards a future where technology benefits society as a whole. This podcast idea was first developed by Dr Tom Ritchie and Dr Jennie Mills as part of The AI Revolution: Ethics, Technology, and Society module, taught as part of IATL at the University of Warwick.
Latest episodes
- 9. AI and Scale: Who Decides When Millions of Children Log On?
19 Oct 2026 · 00:27:17
What does ethical AI look like when millions of children are logging on every school day? And what should an AI tutor do when a student tells it something it was never designed to hear? In this episode, I speak with Dr Stephen Hodges , CEO of Efekta Education , the global AI education company. Stephen trained in computer science before spending two decades in education, and through Efekta he has brought AI tutoring into classrooms across Latin America and East Africa, reaching millions of studen
Episode page ↗ - 8. AI and Chatbots: Who Checks What They Tell Students?
5 Oct 2026 · 00:20:29
What happens when the chatbot answering your applicants gets it wrong, and nobody notices? In this episode, I speak with Martha Horler , founder of Sparkline Advisory and known to many in the sector as the data goddess. Martha has spent two decades in UK higher education working in student data, statutory returns, digital systems and organisational change. She started out answering the phone to students in programme administration. She now supports institutions with data governance, digital stra
Episode page ↗ - 7. AI & Us: A Musical Journey Through Human Identity in the Age of AI
21 Sept 2026 · 00:21:38
A camera isn't the photographer. So what is AI, when it's the tool behind the art? In this episode, I speak with Glenn Stockton , a retired entrepreneur, photographer, and grandfather of ten who has lived through every major digital shift of the last 45 years, from early Macintosh computers to launching one of the first internet businesses in 1997. Glenn is the creator of AI and Us , a five-song musical journey exploring AI consciousness, creativity, digital companionship, conflict, and
Episode page ↗ - 6. AI and Hope: Rewiring Universities for Human Flourishing
6 Sept 2026 · 00:41:47
What is AI actually revealing about us as humans? And what would it mean to build institutions that help us become more human, not less? In this episode, I speak with Dr Jessica Riddell , Professor of Early Modern Literature at Bishop's University , Quebec, where she holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. Jessica is the founder of the Hope Circuits Institute and author of Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Systems for Human Flourishing , as w
Episode page ↗ - 5. AI and Accountability: When Does a Suggestion Become a Decision?
24 Aug 2026 · 00:23:09
What happens when a machine's output looks more certain than the evidence behind it? Where does responsibility sit when an AI flags a decision that nobody actually signed off on? And can a company built around one founder's neurodivergent thinking scale into something an institution like the NHS can trust? In this episode, I speak with Varun Sharma , Founder of NEUVIOR . Varun built the company after his own ADHD diagnosis, structuring it deliberately around neurodivergent cognition. His flagshi
Episode page ↗ - 4. AI and Healthcare: Who's Actually Accountable When It Fails?
27 Jul 2026 · 00:21:55
Where does accountability actually land when an AI system causes harm in a healthcare setting? And is the EU AI Act the compliance headache many organisations fear, or just common sense engineering practice by another name? In this episode, I speak with Antonina Burlachenko , Head of Quality and Regulatory Consulting at STAR , who works directly with healthcare, medtech, and AI product teams navigating regulated AI deployment across Europe and the US. Antonina argues that accountability for AI h
Episode page ↗ - 3. AI and Access: The Words That Include and the Words That Don't
29 Jun 2026 · 00:16:54
What happens when a chatbot speaks to you in a way you simply can't relate to? Can language that is designed to help actually exclude the very people who need support most? And when a machine sounds human, what do we lose when it can't behave like one? In this episode, I speak with Dr Doris Dippold from the University of Surrey , whose research examines how we design for rapport between humans and machines, particularly in sensitive healthcare contexts. Her work on a cervical screening b
Episode page ↗ - 2. AI and Youth: Growing Up Inside the Machine
15 Jun 2026 · 00:22:45
Who is speaking for the generation that never knew a world without AI? What does it mean to form your identity, your creativity, and your sense of self inside systems designed to keep you engaged? And why are the people most affected by AI the ones least consulted about it. Season 3, Episode 2 features Nikhil Gujral , a 15-year-old Bay Area high school student who recently addressed researchers and policymakers at UNESCO in Paris on AI and the rights of children. Nikhil works with the AI Collect
Episode page ↗ - 1. AI and Originality: The End of Excuses
1 Jun 2026 · 00:28:07
Is AI killing creative originality or finally exposing the people who never had any? What happens when the barriers to making something disappear entirely? And if anyone can generate content, what does it mean to actually have something to say? Season 3 of AI Ethics Now opens with Billy Boman , AI director, founder of Billy Boman AI Productions , and educator on Europe's only dedicated creative AI programme. Billy has directed high-profile campaigns for Fiverr and music videos for artists in
Episode page ↗ - 20. AI and Grief: When Death Becomes a Business Model
7 May 2026 · 00:28:44
Content note: This episode contains discussion of bereavement, pregnancy loss, and references to suicide. Please take care when listening. What happens when grief becomes a product? When the people we've lost are turned into data? And who are AI resurrection services really designed to serve - the bereaved, or the bottom line? In this episode, Alfrun Rose , writer, performer, and the creative force behind Dead Air , a darkly comic solo show that has been turning heads since its acclaimed run
Episode page ↗ - 19. AI and Inclusive Clinical Education: Levelling the Playing Field or Reinforcing the Bias?
27 Apr 2026 · 00:23:31
Can generative AI help create fairer healthcare training, or will it simply amplify the inequities already baked into clinical education? And what happens when the shortcuts we reach for in curriculum development undo years of hard-won progress on inclusive practice? In this episode, Ban Haider and Saskia Walker, both senior lecturers at City St George's, University of London , discuss their work examining generative AI in clinical education through the lens of EDI and inclusive practice. Ba
Episode page ↗ - 18. AI and Co-Intelligence: Beyond Prompts to Critical Partnership
13 Apr 2026 · 00:33:51
Is the biggest danger of AI not the technology itself, but how unreflectively we use it? And what does it actually mean to be the "human in the loop" when that concept remains frustratingly vague? Valentina Vlasova and Dr Kevin Coffey , senior lecturers at OMNES Education London , discuss the Co-Intelligence and AI Literacy module they designed after witnessing widespread unreflective AI use among their students. Drawing on Ethan Mollick's Co-Intelligence and the concept of co-thin
Episode page ↗ - 17. AI and Amplification: Beyond Automation to Human-Centred Progress
29 Mar 2026 · 00:26:21
Is AI destined to replace us, or can it help us thrive? And why are we still stuck in the "wow" phase when we should be asking harder questions about implementation? Dr Bryan Reimer , research scientist at the MIT Age Lab and co-author of How to Make AI Useful: Moving Beyond the Hype to Real Progress in Business, Society and Life , discusses AI's journey from "wow" to "woah" to "grow", and why most organizations haven't moved past excitement about
Episode page ↗ - 16. AI and Evidence: When Nobody is Accountable
16 Mar 2026 · 00:27:02
What happens when AI is used to analyse human behaviour and relationships, and the output is treated as reliable evidence in a formal process against another person? Dr Craig Webber , School Lead for the MA in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton, joins the podcast to explore a growing and largely unaddressed risk at the intersection of AI and institutional decision making. Craig introduces a concept with profound implications for anyone who has ever been on the receiving end
Episode page ↗ - 15. AI and the Campus Revolution: When Students Outpace Their Universities
2 Mar 2026 · 00:16:46
What happens when AI use among university students doubles in a single year and institutions are still catching up? To mark the launch of Coursera's 2026 AI on Campus Report , Marni Baker Stein , Chief Content Officer, and Jack Moran , Global Enterprise PR Manager, join me to discuss the findings. With nearly half of UK students now using AI to complete their study tasks and 80% reporting improved grades, the data raises urgent questions about what we are actually measuring when we talk abou
Episode page ↗