Expert Comment: Ethics-washing and Us-washing
Published on March 18, 2026
Professor Edward Harcourt, Director of the Institute for Ethics in AI (Interim) and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, argues that a serious ethical response to AI must do more than challenge superficial ethical labels: it must also recognise how easily criticism of AI can become a way of obscuring our own responsibility for the values and behaviours these systems embody.