Research

My current research investigates the responsibilities of technology companies and what democracy demands from private and artificial agents.

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.

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. Initial work on the first question is forthcoming here. It highlights how recent proposals to integrate AI into the democratic process rely on controversial assumptions about democracy’s value. Work on the second question is ongoing.

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. Additional work on CSR and social enterprise is currently under review.

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 understand 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.

Most of my work is available in pre-print form in open-access repositories such as PhilPapers.