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Cornell University

Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering

A catalyst for consideration of social and ethical issues in engineering

Sidney & Ann Braudy and Louis & Edith Manker Workshop on Business Ethics in Engineering

2025 Workshop: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Life and Work

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 · 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM · The Statler Hotel · Ithaca, NY

Apply to participate (Applications open from August 15 to September 5.)

We are thrilled to announce the return of the Sidney & Ann Braudy and Louis & Edith Manker Workshop on Business Ethics in Engineering for Fall 2025! The Braudy and Manker Workshop 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. A limited number of guest rooms at the Statler Hotel are available at no charge to accepted participants coming from Cornell Tech or other Cornell campuses outside of Ithaca.

This year, the theme is Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Life and Work. AI has become the most talked about computing technology in recent years. 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 business, society, education, and our personal lives.

This workshop will engage with the ethical and social issues raised by the business of AI development. Questions we may consider include:

  • Should AI replace or enhance human labor?
  • Is AI an environmentally, socially, or economically sustainable technology?
  • Who is responsible for the consequences of AI-based decisions? (The developers? The end users? The AI application itself?)

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 15 to September 5.)

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.