Abstract: I argue that AI ethics is an enabler of AI governance and sustainable AI technology. I give an argument for this claim based on what I call the right to mental integrity (i.e., the right not to be manipulated). I start by contextualizing the current status of AI ethics in AI governance debates and approaches, and then build my argument for the role of AI ethics in these debates with reference to notions of agency, autonomy and capabilities needed to live a life of dignity in the era of AI.

Short Bio: Professor Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem is a member of the UN SG's AI Advisory Body, the current chair of the UNESCO World Commission on the ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), and professor and head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria. She leads the AI ethics group at the South African Centre for AI Research (CAIR). Emma led the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group that prepared the draft of the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and contributed to development of its implementation instruments. She is a full member of the International Academy for the Philosophy of Science (AIPS). She is a member of the Global Academic Network, Centre for AI and Digital Policy, Washington DC and has worked in projects related to AI ethics with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA)-NEPAD and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). She has membership of various international AI ethics advisory boards including the expert advisory group of the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military Domain, consults widely in the private sector on the ethics of emerging technologies, and is an associate editor for the Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics.