It is often said that technology advances faster than ethics. Yet this formulation assumes that technology and ethics move along the same trajectory, and that ethics must simply catch up. In practice, the first challenge is often conceptual and epistemic. It is not always clear what we mean when we speak of technology, ethics, and the relationship between them; what knowledge is needed to assess the implications of a new technology; or who should have a voice in decisions concerning its development and use.
This glossary provides a conceptual foundation for discussing the ethical and political issues raised by transformative technologies – technologies that do more than provide new tools. They reshape social practices, institutions, and power relations, and may even alter how we understand human agency, responsibility, and choice. The glossary begins by introducing foundational concepts in ethics and technology, as well as the relationships among morality, ethics, and law. It then presents different perspectives on technology’s impact on individuals and society, including digital humanism, technological determinism, technological optimism and pessimism, and the theory of existential risk.
The main sections examine the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence, including moral responsibility, the alignment problem, technological mediation, value lock-in, trustworthiness, transparency, explainability, and the erosion of human skills. They also explore political concerns relating to the democratic balance of power, algorithmic decision-making, the manipulation of political knowledge, bias, warfare, cybercrime, and surveillance technologies. Finally, the glossary surveys guiding principles for the responsible use of AI, together with major legislative and regulatory frameworks and prominent ethical codes from Israel and around the world.
Rather than offering a single answer to every dilemma, the glossary seeks to clarify the language through which such questions can be identified, critically examined, and meaningfully debated—and, ultimately, to support informed reflection on the kind of world technology is helping us create.
