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A curated collection for humans navigating AI with their values intact
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Most AI ethics reading lists read like compliance checklists or academic syllabi. This isn't that.
This is a working document for people who are actually building, deploying, teaching, and living with AI systems — not theorizing from the sidelines. We're pulling from Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (they've been doing this work for decades), combining it with books that have shaped how our community thinks, and adding perspective from what we're seeing on the ground in Vancouver.
The goal isn't to turn you into an ethicist. The goal is to give you frameworks for asking better questions before you ship, before you adopt, before you click "I agree."
We're not neutral observers. We build AI tools. We train people to use them. We've seen what happens when ethics becomes an afterthought. So this list carries a point of view: that you can be excited about AI's possibilities AND hold serious concerns about where it's headed. We walk forward holding both.
If you're a builder: Start with Deployment Ethics and The Accuracy Problem. You ship code — these directly affect your work.
If you're a leader: Start with Environmental Impact and Labor & Work. Your decisions affect people who can't opt out.
If you're an educator: Start with The Human Spirit and Authenticity. You're shaping how the next generation relates to these tools.
If you're a citizen: Start with Bias & Prediction and Privacy. This affects you whether you use AI or not.
If you're overwhelmed: Start with Shannon Vallor's The AI Mirror and Joy Buolamwini's Unmasking AI. Two books that cut through the noise.