Call for Abstracts:

“Ethics and Agentic AI” invites abstracts that address the normative, conceptual, and practical dimensions of agentic AI’s growing prevalence and rapid deployment across socio-economic sectors. Given its increasing socio-technical impact on safety and society, we welcome work that analyzes the attendant ethical implications from industry and education to law and governance. We especially encourage submissions that use interdisciplinary research methods to analyze and clarify the ethical dimension of agentic AI. The aim of this symposium is to better clarify what should remain distinctly human, what may be reasonably delegated, and what new norms, practices, and infrastructures may be required to this end.

Abstract Submission Details:

Length: 300-400 words

Deadline: April 26, 2026

Submit to: aisocietyncstate@gmail.com

David Danks is the Polk JSF Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, AI, & Data Science at the University of Virginia. One part of his research examines the ethical, psychological, and policy issues around AI and robotics across multiple sectors. He also develops novel AI systems and computational cognitive models. Danks was an inaugural member of the National AI Advisory Committee (USA), and currently serves on multiple advisory boards for industry, government, and academia. He was previously Professor of Data Science, Philosophy, & Policy at UC San Diego, and the L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy & Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He was the recipient of a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, as well as an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.

Keynote Title: "Ethical AI agents in an unethical world"

Abstract: AI systems have historically almost always been used in relatively controlled environments, but agentic AI systems can operate in the relatively uncontrolled real world. Many other discussions of ethics and responsibility for agentic AI have thus focused on issues arising from this real-world complexity. In contrast, this talk will start from the ways in which the world—humans, other agents, institutions, environments, and much more—can involve non-ideal, even unethical, spaces. I will explore what it means for an agentic AI system to behave ethically and responsibly in adversarial or competitive environments, or with agents (human or AI) who have radically different values. I will also point towards some practices and governance frameworks to steer our AI agents in more ethical directions, despite the ways in which the world might try to undermine them. 

More information on panels and full schedule coming soon!

Event Organizers: Veljko Dubljevic, Kevin Lee, Paul Fyfe, Alexander Cooper