Media Mentions

San José leaders are courting data centers even as residents organize against them, KQED reports.

“I think we’re in a full-on backlash against the buildout of the data centers, and not just in California, but in the country and really worldwide,” said Irina Raicu, the director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Raicu told KQED she thinks holistic conversations about how data centers affect society need to be top priorities.

“None of this is just a force of nature. These are decisions made by human beings. Regulations can be passed. There can be a lot more money spent on making more sustainable technology. There could be delays put in place as to whether you deploy something at this kind of scale,” Raicu said. “All of that is just human decisions.”

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by KQED.

Anthropic researchers are sounding the alarm, warning that AI could destroy humanity this decade. Brian Patrick Green, Director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, joined EWTN News Nightly to discuss whether this warning is just hype or a real threat, and if governments are taking this warning seriously enough.

"I think it would be a good idea for the governments of the world to cooperate with each other, to collaborate, to say, 'Okay maybe we need to slow down and think a little harder about this.'"

Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics, interviewed by EWTN News Nightly.

Sutter Health and Santa Clara University are collaborating on a learning model that will expose future doctors to “real-world” clinical environments.

Dr. Conrad Vial, president and executive vice president of Sutter Health, says bioethics is an area where physicians don't receive enough training, which can lead to a "significant gap in our healthcare system with broad public health implications.”

Dr. Vial says most medical schools include ethics courses, but they're often taught in a theoretical way. Students don't always have opportunities to apply those principles in real-world clinical settings.

One advantage of the partnership is Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the largest university-based ethics center in the country, noted Dr. Vial. The goal is to bring together the strengths of both institutions to give students a more complete understanding of how to apply ethics in patient care.

The Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine will address whole-person care with technology, ethics, and science within an integrated healthcare network.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics acknowledged by the American Medical Association.

“Human Agency” was the hopeful theme for the third annual "AI and Church Summit" hosted by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship Ministries August 24-27, 2026.

The summit speakers addressed AI possibilities that include significant medical advances, reduction of workplace dangers, increased productivity, and economic growth, but they also warned of the potential danger the technology may bring.

“The world’s going to get really strange really fast,” said Brian Green, director of technology ethics. Green attended the event virtually.

“We need to be mentally prepared for this, and so you need to be the leaders that your people need and that the world needs,” Green told the summit participants.

Brian Green, director, technology ethics, quoted by United Methodist News.

A now-defunct website called Wyldfyre, offered simulated bets under the tagline “you can’t predict wildfire,” “but you can trade on it,” reports The Press Democrat.

The prospect of betting on wildfires raises a number of ethical issues, according to Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara University.

"As soon as you place a contract on a certain event that involves the potential loss of life, you’re kind of monetizing human life, and in a way that reduces its value,” Skeet said.

Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by The Press Democrat. (The article is also running in the Mercury News, East Bay Times, Sacramento Bee, and Silicon Valley.com)

Ananya Gairola, staff writer at Benzinga writes, "Sam Altman’s leadership at OpenAI and his role in developing World’s biometric identity system have put him at the center of an increasingly contentious question: Can the same tech ecosystem help create AI-driven trust problems while also building the infrastructure meant to solve them?"

"The fact that the same person plays a key role in the development of both a problem and a proposed solution is going to make people distrust the solution," Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, told Benzinga.

Raicu also warned that global biometric collection could conflict with growing efforts around data sovereignty and attract regulatory pushback.

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by Benzinga.

Moving healthcare upstream sounds like progress. But earlier isn't necessarily better.

Guadalupe Hayes-Mota, director of the Bioethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, worries about what happens when medicine answers that question too aggressively.

“If moving healthcare upstream allows us to identify risk before illness begins,” Hayes-Mota asked, “how do we make sure we are creating healthier lives rather than simply creating patients earlier?”

Guadalupe Hayes-Mota, quoted in a Substack from The Care Capitalist.

Who are the people behind the scenes in AI? 'Taskers' could be your kids, students and neighbors, and they are being worn down for little pay and no security from the third party companies and subcontractors who hire them, while AI firms benefit from the work they perform.

Irina Raicu, director of internet ethics, addresses the need to recognize the hundreds of thousands of people around the world performing a kind of piecework in training and fine-tuning AI models. She says without their labor, these AI products or services would not exist.

Raicu says there is an increase in calls for regulation of various aspects of AI, conversations about “AI governance,” and many programs, in universities and other organizations, focusing on “responsible AI.”

"Any such programs should address the role of taskers, and the need for protection of human dignity and the dignity of labor," Raicu writes.

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, published by Mercury News.