Ethics Glossary

Browse 18 ethics terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

18 Ethics Terms

AI alignment
The research discipline concerned with ensuring that artificial intelligence systems reliably pursue goals and behaviors that are beneficial to humans....
AI Ethics Board
A formal internal or external group tasked with reviewing AI-related risks, policies, and ethical concerns around deployment.
AI Safety
AI Safety is the interdisciplinary field focused on ensuring that artificial intelligence systems behave as intended, remain under human control, and do not...
Algorithm Bias
Systematic unfairness or skew in algorithmic outcomes caused by data, objectives, assumptions, or deployment context. In tech culture the term often appears in...
Alignment
Alignment in artificial intelligence refers to the challenge of ensuring that AI systems behave in ways that are consistent with human values, intentions, and...
Benevolent Hacker
A security researcher or hacker who discovers vulnerabilities and responsibly discloses them to the affected vendor or organization rather than exploiting them...
Bias
Systematic errors in an AI model's outputs that reflect prejudices in training data, algorithm design, or deployment context. An AI trained on biased data...
Code Ethics
The ethical questions and responsibilities involved in writing, shipping, and maintaining software, including privacy, fairness, harm, and social impact. In...
Dark Pattern
A user interface design deliberately crafted to trick users into doing things they don't intend — hidden unsubscribe buttons, pre-checked consent boxes,...
Data Ethics
The ethical questions surrounding how data is collected, stored, used, shared, and interpreted, including privacy, consent, fairness, and power. In modern...
Digital Citizenship
The idea of participating responsibly, safely, and ethically in digital spaces, including issues like privacy, respect, literacy, and civic behavior online. In...
Digital Ethics
The ethical questions raised by digital systems, data use, automation, platforms, and online behavior. In tech culture digital ethics is where product...
Ethical Source
A movement advocating licenses that restrict harmful uses of software, such as abuse, surveillance, or human-rights violations, even if those restrictions make...
Front Page Test
A gut-check asking whether you would still defend a technical decision if it were publicly exposed in a highly visible way. In engineering slang, the front...
Golden Rule
The ethical principle of treating others as you would want to be treated. In work and community culture, the golden rule is often invoked as a simple baseline...
Model Card
A standardized document describing a machine learning model's intended use, training data, performance metrics, limitations, and ethical considerations....
Responsible Disclosure
The practice of privately notifying a vendor about a vulnerability and giving them reasonable time to patch it before publicly disclosing the details. A middle...
Safety
The discipline of ensuring that AI systems behave as intended, avoid harmful outputs, and remain aligned with human values, encompassing alignment research,...

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