Carnegie Ethics Fellowship Culminates with Inaugural Symposium

The work of the first Carnegie Ethics Fellowship (CEF) cohort concluded on February 6-7, 2025 at Carnegie Council’s Global Ethics Hub with a four-part Symposium. Over two years, the inaugural Carnegie Ethics Fellows have met with professionals across the international affairs field to learn about ethical decision-making and values-driven responsible leadership. For their culminating experience, Fellows hosted discussions with experts on the topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and election integrity, AI and education, climate change-induced migration, and fighting childhood poverty in the United States. Along with students, educators, and friends of Carnegie Council, the Symposium was also attended by the second CEF cohort.

These conversations complement final reports on these subjects, which have been published on the Carnegie Council website:

• Artificial Intelligence and Election Integrity in 2024
• Child Poverty and Equality of Opportunity for Children in the United States
• Ethical Considerations for the Future of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) and Healthcare
• Considerations for a Climate Migrant's Bill of Rights

“We’ve had a lot of fun together, but we’ve also challenged each other to think critically about the implications of ethical leadership and how our values translate into action,” said Fellow Travis Gidado, in introductory remarks. “We understand that responsible decision-making doesn’t exist in a vacuum; there are countless internal and external forces shaping how we evaluate any given issue.”

The first Symposium panel spotlighted the role of AI in education, with Fellow Ebuka Okoli interviewing Victoria Malaney-Brown, director of academic integrity at Columbia University. Okoli started off discussing how transformational it could be for his nieces in Lagos, Nigeria to have the same access to “affordable AI tools” as students do in the Global North. Malaney-Brown, though, struck a cautious note throughout the talk, saying that software like ChatGPT “was not intended for education” so students and educators should be careful about using it. She described how the classroom has changed since the introduction of these systems, with some students participating less and others checking in with AI tools before offering their thoughts. The bottom line is that for education to truly meet its intention, “human-to-human relationships” cannot be replaced.

The next panel also focused on the ethical implications of technology, featuring Fellow Christine Jakobson interviewing Yael Eisenstat, a technology policy expert and former Meta executive. The two discussed AI and its effect on the political process, with a focus on the United States over the last decade. Eisenstat, currently a senior fellow at Cybersecurity For Democracy, spoke about the dangers of social media and how, since 2015, she has seen more and more Americans “radicalized” due to disinformation and misinformation and the siloing effect of algorithms. In reference to the outsized influence of tech billionaires, she said, “We have allowed people to become so powerful that they really do control the way we communicate with each other.” To put society back on the right course, she noted that we must “fundamentally change our relationship with technology” and “work with people who are not like-minded.”

The next panel also looked at large-scale changes to humanity over the last decade or so, with a discussion on climate change and migration. This talk, featuring climate policy expert Vishal Manve and Fletcher School’s Dean Monica Duffy Toft, began on a personal note as Fellow Emily Kilcrease, the panel’s moderator described how she and her friends and family have been affected by the wildfires in California, this year and in the past. Manve also shared a personal story about his family in Southern India who can no longer continue farming due to the climate crisis. Toft described many of the challenges associated with this issue, including questions around the legal status of “climate refugees” and the difficulties in proving causation for how climate events affect geopolitics. Manve, though, pointed out the stark reality that the nations most affected by climate change need well over $1 trillion to try to combat the issue, with Toft explaining that, sadly, the United States is a “rogue nation” on this issue. “We have the capacity to make a difference,” she said, “but we’re not.”

In the final panel, Fellow Kristina Arakelyan led a discussion with Sophie Collyer, research director at Columbia’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy; Niyati Parekh, a public health professor at NYU; and Jacob Bastian, an economics professor at Rutgers. Collyer began the talk explaining that one in seven children suffer from poverty across the nation, with one in four affected in New York City. Parekh connected this issue to food insecurity, with Bastian pointing out that childhood poverty has long-term consequences. Fortunately, there are policies that have been proven to work, with the rates nearly cut in half since the 1990s. An increase in financial assistance from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic showed further ways to combat this issue. “Poverty is a policy choice,” said Bastian. Some of these pandemic-era policies, like child tax credits, have continued, explained Collyer, especially below the federal level. “What is happening at the state level is a remarkable thing,” she said. Even more local and personal action is needed, though, they all said. Parekh pointed out the connections between personal food waste and poverty. Bastian said the best ways to make a difference are to “stay local, get involved, volunteer.”

As part of its Next Generation Leadership Initiative, Carnegie Council looks forward to providing opportunities for future cohorts to convene at the Global Ethics Hub to explore ethics and leadership, invest in their own professional development, and provide research on emerging ethical issues in international affairs.

“This experience has been deeply fulfilling and truly unforgettable,” said Fellow Geraldine Sciolto. “It’s one we’ll carry with us for the rest of our lives.”