2023 Executive Ethics Symposium: The Ethical Implications of ChatGPT

On August 25, 2023, members of the Tucson community gathered at the Hacienda del Sol Hotel to attend the annual Executive Ethics Symposium organized by the Center for Leadership Ethics in the Eller College of Management.

Each year, a panel of experts discusses the ethical implications of a certain topic. This year, they discussed the ethics of artificial intelligence, specifically AI’s most recent phenomenon, ChatGPT.

The 2023 Executive Ethics Symposium panelists were Matt Hashim, Eller Fellow and associate professor of MIS in the Eller College of Management, Greg Heileman, vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Arizona, and Ricardo Vilanova, partner of intelligent automation-consulting at Ernst & Young (EY).

During the symposium, each of the panelists took time to discuss their thoughts on the ethics of ChatGPT and AI in general. Some of the topics that were discussed included whether or not it should be permitted in school and at work. Another topic mentioned was how one panelist had ChatGPT read Moby Dick many times over and then asked it to compose a heavy metal song using what it learned from the book.

This year’s symposium was attended by many different sectors of the Tucson community including, members from the University, GEICO, EY and even the Tucson Police Department and Fire Department.

To say the crowd was interested in the topic is an understatement as the Q&A session of the event lasted almost a full hour.

“The symposium delivered once again by addressing the ethical dimensions of a timely topic: ChatGPT and its impacts on education and business,” says Paul Melendez, University Distinguished Outreach Professor and founder of the Center for Leadership Ethics. “Our distinguished panel unpacked the topic and explored the promise and perils of this nascent technology.”