Advancing Responsible Technology
through Solutions-Based Research and Education
The AI Ethics Lab, located at Rutgers University-Camden, is an international research initiative examining the ethical and legal implications of artificial intelligence from design and development to deployment, use, and monitoring.
Impactful Leadership
Founded by Principal Investigator, Dr. Nathan C. Walker, the AI Ethics Lab resides within the Department of Philosophy & Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–Camden.
The lab’s impact stems from visiting research appointments, international scholarly contributions, invited talks, and engagements across academia, industry, government, and nonprofits. Highlights include:
- Welcoming Ambassador Kah as a Visiting Scholar
- Lab's PI as visiting academic at the University of Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI
- Presented human rights research at safety conference at UNESCO, Paris
- Moderated North–South Policy Dialogue on AI and Human Rights at Stellenbosch University, South Africa
From Rights to Code to Governance
The AI Ethics Lab’s AI & Human Rights Index lays the legal foundation for a machine-readable technical taxonomy to activate the AI & Human Rights Governance Flywheel.
Step 1.
Build AI & Human Rights Index
Map the relationship between AI human rights and legal instruments across societal sectors with special attention to vulnerable groups.
Step 2.
Design Technical Protocol
Create the semantic infrastructure that translates the legal index into a structured technical system for evaluating AI's impact.
Step 3.
Activate Flywheel
Activate a continuous feedback system that serves as a dynamic Governance Flywheel to democratize monitoring AI systems.
Democratizing
AI Ethics through Design
Project Insight addresses challenges in online behavior and technology use by introducing Self-Reflection Technology that uses personalized ethical frameworks to empower users to make intentional decisions and self-regulate their online behavior and technology use. The ultimate objectives are to elevate human agency, enhance self-efficacy, and promote a meaningful and responsible digital culture.
Enroll
The lab’s courses contribute to training undergraduate and graduate students across philosophy, digital studies, computer science, data science, and emerging media.
From Principles to Practice
The AI Ethics Lab translates research into practice through applied ethics programs that support leaders across sectors.
Academia
Advancing teaching, learning, and research related to AI, ethics, and law, as illustrated in the invited talks given at Columbia University and Virginia Tech.
Government
Provide legal research on local, state, national, and international laws related to artificial intelligence.
NGOs
Provide talks and workshops for nonprofits organizations, like the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and the International Rescue Committee.
Industry
Partner with global leaders to facilitate ethics-to-industry workshops.
Training
AI Founders
The Moral Imagination Exchange (MIX) is a series of applied-ethics workshops that support founders and leaders of AI-driven companies, preparing them to mitigate real harms. MIX concludes with exercises that support founders in developing their company’s Decision Infrastructure for the AI Lifecycle (DIAL) that they present to investors as evidence of their commitment to build trustworthy AI products.
Get Involved
The AI Ethics Lab welcomes students, scholars, and practitioners to collaborate.
For Students
Become a research assistant, a teaching assistant, or earn academic credit.
For Experts
Contribute your expertise to research, publications, and applied ethics initiatives.
For Philanthropists
Make a tax-deductible contribution to the Humans First Fund.
Featured News
The AI Ethics Lab, rooted in Camden, New Jersey, has measurable international research:
- Research collaborations spanning North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia
- Contributions to global AI governance conversations, including UNESCO and UN-affiliated convenings
- Publications across books, policy reports, and peer-reviewed scholarship
- Interdisciplinary student cohorts representing more than a dozen academic disciplines
- Invited talks and workshops across academic, industry, and public-sector institutions
Interdisciplinary student researchers share their work on AI and human rights.
Presenting the AI & Human Rights Index as part of a global convening on safe and ethical AI.
Visiting Scholar Ambassador Kah chaired WIPO meeting on the intersection of intellectual property and frontier technologies.
Published analysis of the problem of the outdated legal definition of AI in U.S. law.
Presented at event sponsored by BAU Global, AWS, Intel, Telescope, Skyloop, and Future Campus.