AIU-Oxford Exchange: AI and Ethics Workshop at Oxford University

On Monday 24th November 2025, as a first step towards developing collaborative research with the Uehiro Oxford Institute as well as to foster AIU students’ research initiative under AIU’s SX Meister Program, representatives from the Human & AI Center, Professor Florent Domenach, Professor Kyle Shuttleworth, and undergraduate students Ms. Mayuka Yamazaki and Ms. Koyuki Nyumura presented their work on AI and ethics at the Uehiro Oxford Institute at Oxford University.

AI and Education Panel

Professors Domenach and Shuttleworth, and Ms. Nyumura delivered a panel on AI and Education. Prof. Domenach spoke about paradigm shifts in education, emphasizing how LLMs cause us to re-consider and re-evaluate our approach to education in a digital age. Prof. Shuttleworth discussed education as a practice, proposing Alasdair MacIntyre’s moral framework as a way to think about education as leading to internal goods, and proposed that LLMs should be accepted or rejected based on whether they enable students to achieve such goods. Ms. Nyumura presented her work through the Student Government on AI and education in practice, focusing on the need to rethink AI regulations, offering practical examples of the AI workshops conducted at AIU, and the outcome of developing a new AI regulation.

Prof. Domenach discussing paradigm shifts in education

Prof. Shuttleworth presenting a moral re-evaluation of the use of large language models

Ms. Nyumura offering a practical attempt to rethink the role of AI in university education

Research Presentation

In addition to the panel, Ms. Yamazaki presented her research on Watsuji Tetsurō and ChatGPT, arguing that we need to develop Watsuji’s theory of aidagara further to account for existing human relations with digital technologies.?

Ms. Yamazaki presenting her research on Watsujian ethics, ChatGPT and human relations

Workshop Presentations

This workshop was the outcome of a collaborative effort between AIU and the Uehiro Oxford Institute (UOI). UOI is directed by Professor Roger Crisp (St. Anne’s College, Oxford University) and its mission, represented in its members’ presentations, is to bring together a wide range of researchers from diverse backgrounds dealing with ethical issues.

Dr. Kathryn Francis and Dr. Joanna Demaree-Cotton presented an overview of their collaborative research with young people via AI in their respective Design Bioethics and Philosophical Moral Psychology labs. Prof. Dominic Wilkinson discussed medical ethics and the potential of AI to be used as a means of overcoming issues concerning consent in ethical decision making. Prof. Katrien Devolder illustrated how the emergence of AI enables us to rethink what constitutes laziness. Dr. Hazem Zohny questioned whether AI can reliably perform the philosophical method of reflective equilibrium in relation to facial recognition. And Dr. Cristina Voinea illustrated the limitations of analogies that compare AI to the introduction of the calculator and its effects on education and learning.

The discussions which took place in between the presentations, and at dinner in a 17th century hall, lead to deeper exchange and understanding, with participants from AIU and UOI expressing interest in each other’s work and the desire to engage in collaborative research. We are hopeful that this will be the first of many collaborative projects between AIU and UOI.

AIU Student Representatives

Ms. Nyumura and Ms. Yamazaki were invited to participate in the workshop after their proposals were selected from among a dozen applicants, all of which were double-blind reviewed. Presenting at an academic conference as an undergraduate student is a daunting task, and to do so at the most renowned university in the world, is even more so. As such, Prof. Domenach and Prof. Shuttleworth are extremely proud of Ms. Nyumura and Ms. Yamazaki’s achievement, which drew admiration from our co-presenters at Oxford, and perfectly represented AIU.

This research trip was the first of its kind at AIU, with students acting as research partners with professors, and represents a new milestone for the development of AIU’s research capacity. Ms. Nyumura and Ms. Yamazaki will present an overview of their experience in Oxford in an open lecture in January 2026. This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the overall experience of traveling to the UK for a research trip, and will provide information to those interested in becoming involved in such future undertakings.