Amir H. Payberah - 2025-08-14

When global AI principles meet the realities of local communities, whose values should take the lead? When people from entirely different fields work together, how do they navigate conflicting priorities? And when something unexpected happens mid-project, is it just a hiccup, or an invitation to rethink what’s ethical?

These are the kinds of questions we will discuss in our first journal club session after the summer break, through three papers. Each shares a view of ethics as "processual", which unfolds over time, and "situated", which is inseparable from the people, places, and histories that shape it. Together, these papers offer a layered perspective: (1) ethics grounded in local realities, (2) evolving through the course of collaboration, and (3) sparked in the heat of disruption.

At the macro level, Situated Ethics [1] examines the gap between global AI principles and local realities, showing why ethical standards only have meaning when they are rooted in the lived experiences of the communities most affected.

At the meso level, Friction in Processual Ethics [2] looks at the slow, sometimes messy negotiations within interdisciplinary projects, where differences in priorities and working methods become opportunities to question assumptions, shift roles, and strengthen collaboration.

And at the micro level, In the Moment of Glitch [3] zooms in on sudden disruptions and reframes them as openings for immediate ethical reflection, revealing hidden assumptions and prompting change.

[1] Situated Ethics: Ethical Accountability of Local Perspectives in Global AI Ethics, A. Mager et al., Media, Culture & Society, 2025
[2] Friction in Processual Ethics: Reconfiguring Ethical Relations in Interdisciplinary Research, R. Garrett et al., ACM CHI, 2025
[3] In the Moment of Glitch: Engaging with Misalignments in Ethical Practice, R. Garrett et al., ACM CHI, 2025