Over the summer our D-E Ethics Bowl Team, advised by Philosophy and Ethics Department Chair Mr. Joseph Murphy, made it to the TKEthics International Grand Final, held via Zoom on Aug. 29, 2025—and subsequently won the Gold Medal!
According to Mr. Murphy, the process began in June for Ethics Bowl members Ezra Newman ’26, Noah Saphier ’26, Sebastian Chang ’27, Hannah Chun ’27, and Matteo de la Rosa Lepore ’26. For the competition, students were tasked with studying and discussing eight complex ethical issues involving technology and Artificial Intelligence.
D-E’s team, nicknamed Arendt in honor of philosopher Hannah Arendt, had the timeslot of 6 PM until midnight EDT. “It was a long night, but… certainly a good way to start the year!” exclaimed Mr. Murphy.
The cases included the following topics: replacing teachers with AI bots; using ChatGPT in industries such as journalism; navigating the pros and cons of encrypted communication; algorithms that are built on assumptions and prejudices about people; visual AI programs that potentially violate intellectual property rights; predictive algorithms in parole decisions; turning to romantic chatbots to combat loneliness; and whether social media companies should be permitted to perform psychological research on users without their direct knowledge.
This was the team’s first international competition. The experience “has given us the chance to extend our sense of camaraderie to a global community,” said Team Leader Ezra. Sebastian, in his third year of being on the Ethics Bowl Team, concurred and said he enjoyed the opportunity to engage with students from countries including China, Australia, and the UK.
“Tackling large-scale challenges in the world can be incredibly daunting, so we really appreciated the opportunity to remind ourselves that there are people all across the world who are working towards the same goal,” said Ezra.
During the Grand Final, several discussions focused on “the development of AI and its implications on humanity,” said Sebastian. He pointed to the case that examined justice systems that are using AI to assess people with criminal convictions and determine whether they should be eligible for parole. Sebastian noted that their argument included the rationale that using AI for this purpose could be seen as “reducing someone’s autonomy… and chalking someone up to a number at the expense of respect for humanity.”
As for what makes for a powerful presentation and position, Ezra said it’s an argument “that successfully and thoroughly considers every facet of an issue and determines what is most interesting or relevant to discuss.” Added Sebastian, “In ethics, context matters… not everything is black and white.”
When describing how he believes opportunities like this align with D-E’s mission to “meet the challenges of a changing world and make it better,” Ezra remarked that “The natural question that arises from such a statement is, what does a better world look like? While plenty of classes touch on this issue, nowhere in the school have I found an environment more dedicated to answering this question than the Ethics Bowl Team.”
Congratulations to our students for this impressive achievement and the critical-thinking skills they displayed as they confronted such nuanced ethical questions!
