Media Mentions

 According to Dauphin County’s nepotism policy, children do not count as family members, is highly unusual and runs counter to best practices, writes Juliette Rihl, reporting for Penn Live.

“These rules exist to preserve fairness and public trust by preventing preferential treatment— excluding children undermines that core purpose,” said Davina Hurt, Ethics Center's director of government ethics.

“Even if the hire technically complies with the revised rules, the public is left questioning whether the rules were changed to serve the public interest— or to serve one person,” Hurt said.

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Penn Live.

Starting Jan. 1, under the state’s first-in-the-nation Delete Act, Californians can reduce the information brokers can gather and sell.

“So many people still don’t realize that these companies even exist, or the scale of the marketplace — the number of these companies that sell information about us,” said Raicu,

“Whether it’s successful will depend in part on how many people know that they can do this,” Raicu said, “and how many people take advantage of it.”

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by The Mercury News.

Motoko Rich reporting for the New York Times, notes that Leo XIV addresses technology’s promise and pitfalls, but has yet to lay out a vision for how AI might be harnessed for spiritual connections, or to protect the vulnerable from harm.

“He sees this as an issue where hopefully he can make a difference,” noted Brian Green, director, technology ethics. “But making a difference entails getting everybody to think about these issues and how it applies to them in their particular context.”

Brian Green, director, technology ethics, quoted by the New York Times.

Deepfakes are steering political narratives and voter perception by merging satire and disinformation, which misleads voters and distorts democratic discourse.

"The irresponsible use of AI by people in government leadership positions suggests that we are at a moment that transcends politics. What is society’s moral code? If politicians, news outlets, and civic organizations adopted a “civic covenant for the AI age,” much like current journalistic standards, could we create a healthier public square?"

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics and Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, published by Salon.

Artificial intelligence-enhanced photos are being used to enhance the images of houses on the real-estate market.

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics comments, "These [home purchases] are not the kind of impulse buys that people would make from something they see online and they just click something. It requires the development of a relationship, and relationships need trust."

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by NBC Bay Area.

“There appears to be a conflict of interest just based on the best — best ethics laws that are out there,” said Hurt. “And, so, if we’re talking about an ethics standard, you have to ensure that there is no appearance and that the core principle of impartiality is shown throughout the process,” she added. “Your sister-in-law being the center of a decision is a conflict of interest.” 

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by WLNS.

The take-home cars are not necessarily an ethical question, said Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director, government ethics.

“The fact that they want to do more than neighboring counties for their employees can be heralded as competitive compensation practices to retain quality public service,” Hurt said. “It appears to be a matter of policy rather than ethics.”

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by PennLive.

Government ethics experts said the board should have advised Sheffield to disclose her relationship with McKinney to maintain public confidence in the contracting process.

“The board interpreted the law really narrowly,” said Davina Hurt, director of the Government Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “All ethicists understand the spirit of the law is to preserve public trust and avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Detroit Free Press (article behind paywall).