Research

My current research investigates the responsibilities of technology companies and what democracy demands from private and artificial agents. Most of my work is available in pre-print form in open-access repositories such as PhilPapers, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, and SSRN.

Responsibilities of Tech Companies

One stream of work concerns the conditions under which technology companies have duties to police the sales and usage of their products. When can technology firms be complicit in the misuse or abuse of the products they sell? Conversely, when can efforts by technology firms to control sales and usage constitute abuses of power? A pair of papers on these questions is currently under review.

AI & Democracy

A second stream of work examines the threats and opportunities that artificial intelligence poses for democratic legitimacy. It considers how AI can advance and undermine democratic political participation, as well as how power over AI should be fairly distributed. This work will be published in a book under contract with Polity Press, tentatively titled Recoding Democracy: AI and the Fight for Democracy’s Future. A preview of one argument can be found here. It highlights how recent proposals to integrate AI into the democratic process rely on controversial assumptions about democracy’s value.

Political Theory of Beneficence

A third stream of work addresses how benevolent economic practices, such as philanthropy, CSR, and social enterprise, can both support and undermine the realization of justice and political equality. I have written at length on philanthropy, such as here, here, and here. A paper exploring the ethics of boycotting by corporations is here. A paper on the relationship between justice and social enterprises is here.

Political Philosophy and Applied Ethics

I maintain eclectic interests outside of these streams. I have published on the question of practice-dependence in theories of justice, i.e., the extent to which theories of justice should be constrained by facts about existing practices, a question which I have managed to connect to debates in medieval political thought. I have written on the concept of accountability in AI ethics, which despite its importance remains one of the most poorly understood concepts in moral and political philosophy. I maintain interests in the concept of responsible innovation, methods of ethical foresight analysis, the justification of democracy, and various other topics.