2025/04/03 by Sarah Banks, Teresa Bertotti, Daria Forlenza +8 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Neuroscience · #Ethics and Social Impacts of AI #Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/17496535.2025.2512949
openalex publication_date 2025/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
This paper brings together a range of perspectives on the ethical implications for social work of the growing use of digital technologies, big data, artificial intelligence and other features of ‘Industry 4.0’ (the fourth industrial revolution). Drawing on contributions to a workshop co-organised by the Ethics and Social Welfare journal, contributors explore: the nature and importance ‘slow ethics’ in an age of fast technological developments; ethical challenges for social work with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which outlaws digital communications; the empowering effect of online meetings for a young person in Italy; and the possibilities and limitations of using algorithms in mental capacity assessments and in ethical decision-making more broadly. Stimulated by these examples, the concluding discussion considers how to maintain a person-centred approach in social work, being pro-active in developing positive uses and resisting the de-humanising and exclusionary impacts of digital technologies.