Ethics & Future: Tec professor researches AI and presents work in U.S.

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The impact of artificial intelligence on the human experience and the ethical frameworks surrounding it is the subject of a presentation given by Tec Guadalajara professor Fernando Mora Dávila at Arizona State University (ASU), where he served as a visiting professor at the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics.

This collaboration aims to establish joint projects and included a lecture based on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and the concept of datafication, with the goal of reflecting on how data and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping the human experience.

The aim is to "use technology critically and in accordance with ethical standards," since, he argued, the use of technology tends to shape people according to patterns that promote uniformity.

That is the central focus of the research conducted by Mora, who serves as the Central-Western Director of the Department of Humanities at the Tec's School of Humanities and Education (EHE).

"It's not about avoiding technology altogether, because that would be very naïve, but about using it in a critical way," he added. "The intention was to prompt reflection on how data and AI reduce the human experience to quantifiable factors," he explained.

Fernando Mora with ASU faculty members. Photo: Courtesy of Fernando Mora

Cooperative models

The collaboration was made possible by Faculty Mobility, a Tec initiative that supports faculty members with ties to international universities or research centers, with the aim of promoting outreach efforts and academic partnerships.

As part of the research, Mora collaborated with an ASU working group focused on developing AI and machine learning models based on human cooperative patterns.

Mora Dávila, who is currently pursuing a master's at ASU, took advantage of that institutional connection to formalize his stay and strengthen the relationship between the two universities.

"When human experience is reduced to data, it becomes predictable and uniform, leaving little room for creativity, disruption, and imagination."

The researcher explained that, unlike systems such as ChatGPT or Gemini, which are designed to agree with the user, the model being developed by this team aims to learn interaction patterns such as:

• Friendship
• Empathy, and
• Principles of game theory

"What we're looking for is a model that isn't based on that purpose (giving the user the right answer) but rather one that is capable of learning cooperative models," Mora explained.

He also stated that this model challenges the prevailing design paradigm in the tech industry and proposes an AI which prioritizes the quality of the relationship between the system and the user over constant validation.

Mora with colleagues from the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics. Photo: Courtesy of Fernando Mora

Global technology

Another focus of his research examines technological development from a critical perspective. He pointed out that the industry's focus on profit and other interests determines the type of technology which dominates globally.

Mora Dávila held discussions with academics in the field at ASU, including professor Sarah Florini, who emphasizes the need for technological proposals to emerge from other regions of the world in order to diversify perspectives on the development of AI.

According to Mora Dávila, Florini believes that there should be more proposals and the emergence of technologies from other parts of the world in order to gain a different perspective.

The researcher noted that this aspect highlights one of the central tensions in the field: mass-market technology is driven primarily by commercial and geopolitical considerations, not necessarily by ethical or human criteria.

Because of this, he believes that this lack of technological diversity is not a technical problem but an ethical one.

This collaboration aims to prevent the human experience from being reduced to mere data. Photo: Courtesy of Fernando Mora

Avoiding the reduction of experiences to data

The lecture at ASU was based on the following premise: "When human experience is reduced to data, it becomes predictable and homogeneous, leaving little room for creativity, disruption, and imagination," he explained.

For the scholar, that is precisely the risk his research seeks to highlight: how algorithms and artificial intelligence systems not only organize people's lives but also shape them based on patterns that tend toward uniformity.

That perspective guides both his research and his AI ethics course: to equip students with the tools to integrate technology into their lives and careers while maintaining a critical perspective on it.

This is also the approach that the Department of Humanities at EHE seeks to promote through what they call the digital humanities: a conscious engagement with technology which does not neglect the human dimension.

ASU facilities. Photo: Courtesy of Fernando Mora

Working together for the future

Finally, the researcher emphasized the importance of establishing a formal partnership between the Tec and Arizona State University based on the academic ties forged during his stay.

The objectives include conducting joint research and publishing academic articles based on common ground identified by both institutions regarding ethics and AI.

Finally, he noted that one aspect which caught the attention of ASU scholars was the Tec's strategic approach to technology.

"It shows not only that we take a critical view of technology but also that we have the ability to incorporate toolssuch as programming, data mining, and artificial intelligence," he concluded.

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