Entry 13 of 44
Ethical
ethos — character, custom, moral nature; ethikos (relating to character)
Greek
From Greek ethos: character, custom, moral nature. Root concept: relating to the fundamental character and conduct of persons — the domain of how one ought to live and act toward others.
Established meaning
Conforming to accepted principles of right conduct. In applied ethics: systematic analysis of obligations, rights, consequences, and duties. Ethics involves genuine moral reasoning about what is owed to persons.
AI industry deployment
'AI Ethics' as department name, conference track, and compliance function. Often operationalized as fairness metrics, bias audits, and diversity in training data. The philosophical content of ethics — moral obligation, rights, what is owed — frequently absent.
Semantic gap
Moral obligation
Ethos concerns what one owes to others as persons. Industry 'ethics' frequently concerns reputational risk management and regulatory compliance — not the moral standing of users or those affected by system deployment.