From Engineering Ethics to Ethical Engineering

Leveraging AI for Governing Emerging Technologies

Abstract

Ethical Engineering (EtEn) is an emerging discipline that represents a paradigm shift from traditional Engineering Ethics (EnEt). Rather than focusing primarily on educating individual practitioners, EtEn aims to systematically embed ethical principles into the very fabric of technological systems and governance processes. This paper examines this fundamental transition from EnEt, which focuses on educating practitioners about normative principles, to EtEn, which treats ethics as a systematic engineering problem, focusing on translation of principles into executable governance tools. The study highlights AI's dual role as both the primary domain requiring governance and a pivotal enabler for it, examining its potential to enhance ethical governance through improved algorithmic auditability, support for complex ethical decision-making, and cross-domain collaborative governance, while also addressing challenges like value alignment, bias mitigation, and technological reductionism. It identifies eight key issues that constitute the core research agenda for EtEn and argues that its development must be understood as an experimental, iterative process. This paradigm shift not only expands practical pathways for implementing EnEt but also offers novel methodological support for the ethical governance of emerging technology in the age of AI.