Parsons Students probe AI’s Ethical Crossroads at 2025 Conference

In a bold fusion of design and ethics, the Ethics of AI Conference 2025 invited students and scholars alike to reimagine the future of artificial intelligence—not through policy papers or code, but through speculative artifacts that raise pressing socio-ethical questions. Held at Parsons School of Design, the exhibition was a thought-provoking journey into tomorrow’s dilemmas, curated entirely through the lens of critical design.

Guided by designer and educator Andrew Shea, the exhibition showcased immersive, interactive projects by graduate students that explored some of AI’s most pressing ethical challenges—from memory manipulation and bias to environmental impact, surveillance, and the commercialization of human emotion.

Memory for Sale? In Marketplace of Memories, creators Ritika Suryawanshi, Muskan Gupta, Camila Bravo, and Alicia envision a future where AI can reconstruct and exchange human memories. The installation invites viewers to consider what happens when our most intimate experiences become transferable data—editable, ownable, and salable. As the boundary between memory and market blurs, the project provokes unsettling questions about identity, authenticity, and consent.

Seeing Bias Through Trust Blindspot, designed by Utsav Vekariya and Angie Sun, confronts the hidden biases in algorithmic systems. The installation reveals how our trust in increasingly human-like AI can blind us to its flaws—raising the specter of opaque decision-making in everything from hiring to healthcare. It’s a timely reminder that behind every AI is a set of choices—often human, often flawed.

The True Cost of Convenience In The Price You Pay, The Cost You Incur, Vani Bhatnagar, Sofie Johansson, and Quentin Renaud present a future receipt—not from a store, but from the planet. This speculative artifact quantifies the environmental toll of AI-enabled consumerism, from rare-earth mining to digital waste, urging visitors to rethink the trade-offs behind seamless tech experiences.

Selling Ourselves Short Esha Rao, Minji An, and Sonima Katara’s Traded Away places visitors in a data auction, where personal information is up for bid. Led by an AI auctioneer, the installation dramatizes the invisible economy of data brokerage, asking what we sacrifice—privacy, control, autonomy—in the name of personalization and profit.

Automating Intimacy Finally, Lullaby by Chloé de Montgolfier and Jaime Stock delivers a hauntingly tender experience: an AI-generated mother’s voice comforting a child through a stuffed toy. While seemingly sweet, the project critiques the automation of emotional labor and the ethical cost of outsourcing human care to machines.

Each project offers more than critique—it invites dialogue. As AI continues to shape how we live, work, and relate, the Ethics of AI Conference reminds us that design is not just about what technology can do, but what it should do.