Can We Use AI Ethically?
Thursday, October 15, 2026, 6:00 PM PDT – 8:30 PM PDT
Little Bird Brewing · 3176 Thorn St, San Diego, CA 92104, USA
Hosted by Big Idea Night
AI is rapidly becoming part of how we work. Using it may not feel like a choice. But most conversations about AI still get reduced to a deceptively simple question: Is it good or bad? That framing obscures the choices we still have. Developers make choices about how AI is built. Organizations make choices about how it is adopted. And each of us makes choices about when, why, and how we use it. At this Big Idea Night, economist and AI ethics researcher Karen Boyd will help us explore how we can identify the values AI may threaten—and respond in ways that protect what matters to us. That might mean constraining how AI is used. Compensating for its harms. Rethinking the work itself. Or helping shape the larger technological ecosystem. There may be no perfectly ethical way to use AI. But that doesn’t mean our only options are unquestioning adoption or complete rejection. Come ready to consider your greatest fears, your biggest hopes, and the choices we still have in shaping our relationship with AI. Venue: Little Bird Brewing in North Park. Doors open at 6. Talk begins at 7. Help support our host venue by arriving early to get a drink, something to eat and meet fellow attendees. We'll have some interactive points of discussion out too. About the Speaker Karen Boyd is an economist at the Policy and Innovation Center who studies mission-driven AI and the future of work. She has an MBA from UC San Diego and a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her book, Amplify Good Work, is a practical guide for mission-driven organizations navigating AI adoption.