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Trustworthy & accountable AI

Digital Ethics & Responsible AI and Data Science

AI and Data Science through the lenses of science for and with society.

Technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS) have the potential to provide multiple benefits for personal well-being and health, economy, and governance. Additionally, society is expected to benefit from advancements in AI and DS, for example in addressing climate change, as they offer a level of management and control not previously possible. At the same time, these technological advancements raise societal concerns. These range from issues regarding personal data protection and privacy to the power of big-tech companies, and from the responsibilities of corporate actors in the data economy to concerns about the instrumentalization of human intelligence as a commodity in a surveillance society.
To harness the potential social benefits that AI and DS can provide to tackle the grand challenges of our time, while also considering the legitimate societal concerns that these technologies raise, responsible AI and DS consider ethical, legal, and social aspects of AI and DS from the early stages of development. By engaging not only engineers and experts but a broader set of stakeholders who have an interest in or are affected by these technologies, ranging from citizens to policymakers, and from researchers to businesses, it is expected that responsible AI and DS practices can be realized. To this end, multiple disciplines at EUR (e.g. sociologists, legal scholars, philosophers) critically research the societal impact of technological advancements in AI and DS as well as the shift in the human-technology relation (for instance in case of students or health professionals). These disciplines also explore the mechanisms that can enhance responsible AI and DS. In the Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (ELSA) Lab, part of the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA), AI and DS are looked at through the lenses of science for and with society.
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Prof. Dr. Vincent Blok

Professor philosophy of technology and responsible innovation and philosophy of AI and data science

Research Projects

Research by Vincent Blok is focused on:
  • Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of AI and DS
  • ELSA lab methodology development (including tools, guidelines and engagement strategies) for responsible AI and DS
  • Disruption of the human and ecological condition by AI and DS
  • Ontology of data and digital objects (e.g. knowledge graphs)

Relevant Articles

  1. Blok, V. (2023) Philosophy of Technology in the Digital Age: the datafication of the world, the homo virtualis, and the capacity of technological innovations to set the World free. Wageningen University. Open access: https://edepot.wur.nl/639666.
  2. Wang, H., & Blok, V. (2025). Why putting artificial intelligence ethics into practice is not enough: Towards a multi-level framework. Big Data & Society, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251340620
  3. Van Hilten, M., Ryan, M., Blok, V, de Roo, N. (2025) Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (ELSA) for AI: An assessment tool for Agri-food. Smart Agriculture Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atech.2024.100710
  4. Ryan, M., de Roo, N., Wang, H. et al. AI through the looking glass: an empirical study of structural social and ethical challenges in AI. AI & Soc (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02146-0
  5. Ryan, M., Blok. V. (2023) Stop Re-inventing the wheel: or how ELSA and RRI can be aligned
  6. Blok, V. (2019), “Innovation as Ethos. Moving beyond CSR and Practical Wisdom in Innovation Ethics”. Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Dordrecht: Springer (10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_19-1)
  7. Blok, V. (2019), “From Participation to Interruption: Toward an ethics of stakeholder engagement, participation and partnership in CSR and responsible innovation”. Von Schomberg, R. (ed.) Handbook Responsible Innovation: A Global Resource. Northhampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 243-257
  8. Brand, T., Blok, V. (2019) “Responsible Innovation in Business: A critical reflection on deliberative engagement as a central governance mechanism”, Journal of Responsible Innovation, 6(1): 4-24
  9. Blok, V., Lemmens, P. (2015) “The Emerging Concept of Responsible Innovation. Three Reasons why it is Questionable and Calls for a Radical Transformation of the Concept of Innovation“. In: Koops, van den Hoven, Romijn, Swierstra, Oosterlaken (ed.), Responsible Innovation 2: Concepts, Approaches, and Applications (Dordrecht: Springer): 19-35 (DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17308-5_2).

Experts

  • Otto Koppius (RSM)
  • Muel Kaptein (RSM)
  • Gabriele Jacobs(ESSB)
  • Laura Ripoll Gonzalez (ESSB)
  • Francisca Grommé (ESSB)
  • Maartje Schermer (ESHPM)
  • Carin Uyl-de Groot (ESHPM)
  • Yuk Hui (ESPHIL)
  • Jason Pridmore (ESHCC)
  • Joao Fernando Ferreira Goncalves (ESHCC)
  • Evert Stamhuis (ESL)
  • Cees Zweistra (ESL)
  • Lonneke Poort (ESL)
  • Martijn Scheltema (ESL)
PhD candidates & Post-docs
  • Sonia de Jager (ESPHIL).
  • Milan Sturmer (ESPHIL).
  • Joris Krijger [External PhD candidate (ESPHIL)
  • Tessa Oomen External PhD candidate (ESHCC)
  • Tamara Thuis (RSM)

Readings

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