2026 Workshop: Artificial Intelligence and the Debts of Computing

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 · 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM · The Statler Hotel · Ithaca, NY

Apply to participate (Applications open from August 5 to September 9.)

The Braudy & Manker Workshop on Business Ethics in Engineering is a unique interdisciplinary event, bringing together faculty and advanced students from engineering, business, law, and more for an evening of discussion on ethical and social issues raised through the business of engineering.

The workshop is free for all accepted participants and includes a catered dinner. For participants coming from Cornell Tech and other Cornell campuses outside of Ithaca, a limited number of guest rooms at the Statler Hotel and funds for reasonable travel expenses will be provided.

This year, the theme is Artificial Intelligence and the Debts of Computing. While there have been many innovations in computing that have been called “AI” over the years, the public releases of OpenAI’s DALL-E (2021) and ChatGPT (2022) have redefined our understanding of what computers can do. As a slew of new AI products has appeared, there is much excitement—and trepidation—about how these tools might transform our businesses, our institutions, and our personal lives. At the same time, prominent scholars and activists have argued that computing as an industry has accumulated a series of metaphorical debts through the costs these technologies have to the economy, the environment, and society. Computer scientist and sustainability scholar Christoph Becker has gone so far as to say that “in its current form, computing is… insolvent: It is incapable of paying back the debts it owes to this planet and its societies.”

This workshop will engage with the ethical and social issues raised by the business of AI development, and how these debts might be mitigated or repaid. Questions we may consider include:

• When should AI replace vs. enhance human labor?
• Is AI an environmentally sustainable technology?
• How might AI improve or undermine human connection?

Discussion will be structured through a simulation game. Participants will take on the role of a team at an AI startup, and grapple with a series of ethically challenging questions that arise in the development, maintenance, and use of an AI product. Each team’s choices will influence how the scenario unfolds, creating a series of unique case studies.

Eligibility

The workshop is open to Cornell students in the following programs of study:

• M.Eng.
• M.B.A.
• J.D.
• Senior Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional programs in relevant disciplines

Apply to participate (Applications open from August 5 to September 9.)

Workshop Agenda

• 4:30–5:00 PM — Registration & Networking
• 5:00–5:30 PM — Keynote Lecture
• 5:30–5:40 PM — Break with refreshments
• 5:40–6:40 PM — Breakout discussion / simulation game
• 6:40–7:00 PM — Discussion
• 7:00–9:00 PM — Dinner

Workshop History

In 2008, Dr. Robert S. Braudy (’65, M.Eng. ’66) and Judith A. Braudy made a gift to the Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering in order to create an annual workshop on business ethics in engineering. The workshop is named in honor of Dr. Braudy’s parents and maternal grandparents. We thank the Braudys for their generosity and ongoing support of our activities.

The workshop was offered to senior undergraduate and master’s students in engineering, as well as M.B.A. and law students at Cornell, from 2009 to 2019, and was relaunched in 2025. For more on the history of this workshop, visit its archive page.