Mariarosaria Taddeo

Mariarosaria Taddeo is an Italian philosopher working on the ethics of digital technologies. She is Professor of Digital Ethics and Defence Technologies at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and Dslt (Defence science and technology lab) Ethics Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, London.

Education and early career

Taddeo holds a MA in philosophy from the University of Bari and PhD in philosophy from the University of Padua. Prior to joining the Oxford Internet Institute, she was research fellow in cybersecurity and ethics at the University of Warwick. She has also held a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Hertfordshire, exploring information warfare and its ethical

Career

Her recent work focuses on the ethics and governance of digital technologies, and ranges from designing governance measures to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to addressing the ethical challenges of using defence technology in defence, ethics of cybersecurity, and governance of cyber conflicts. She has published more than 150 articles in this area, focusing on topics like trustworthy digital technologies, governance of digital innovation, ethical governance of AI for national defence, ethics of cybersecurity (the complete list of her publications is available here). Her work has been published in major journals like Nature, Nature Machine Intelligence, Science, and Science Robotics.

Professor Taddeo has led, leads, and co-leads several projects in the area of Digital Ethics successfully. Most notably, she is the PI of a current project on the ‘Ethical Principles for the Use of AI for National Security and Defence’ funded by Dstl (the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory). She was Co-I in an EPSRC project, which funded the PETRAS IoT Research Hub. She was PI on a project funded by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CDD COE) to define ethical guidance for the regulation of cyber conflicts.

In September 2023 Taddeo was awarded a Title of Distinction of Professor of Digital Ethics and Defence Technologies by the University of Oxford.

Main views and contributions

Mariarosaria Taddeo focuses on the philosophical and ethical dimensions of technology, particularly on digital technologies deployed for defence purposes. Her publications span from digital governance, the responsibilities of tech providers, privacy, transparency, and the socially beneficial uses of AI, including its potential to advance sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals to the use of digital technologies of national security and defence purpose. She has published extensively on the cyber deterrence, the use of AI for intelligence analysis and include the moral permissibility of autonomous weapon systems, focusing on issues like the definition of such systems, the attribution of moral responsibility for their actions, and the application of traditional just war principles to the use of these systems.

One of her notable works discusses ethical frameworks for AI in national defence, highlighting the need for principles that ensure AI's use in defence aligns with moral and ethical standards. Taddeo and her colleagues have identified five key principles for the ethical deployment of AI in defence: justified and overridable uses of AI, ensuring just and transparent systems and processes, maintaining human moral responsibility, ensuring meaningful human control over AI systems, and the reliability of AI systems. These principles are aimed at fostering the ethically sound use of AI in national defence, addressing the growing global efforts to develop or acquire AI capabilities without equivalent efforts to define ethical guidelines.

Taddeo's work is integral to the ongoing dialogue on the ethical use of technology in defence, offering valuable insights into how nations can navigate the complex moral landscape presented by advancements in digital and AI technologies. Her contributions contribute to inform the academic debate and help shaping the ethical governance of emerging technologies in national security and defence contexts.

Service

Since 2022, she serves on the Ethics Advisory Panel of the UK Ministry of Defence. She was one of lead experts on the CEPS Task Force on ‘Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity’, CEPS is a major European think-tank informing EU policies on cybersecurity. Between 2018 and 2020 represented the UK of the NATO Human Factors and Medicine Exploratory Team (NATO HFM ETS) ‘Operational Ethics: Preparation and Interventions for the Future Security Environment’. Since 2016, she serves as editor-in-chief of Minds & Machines (SpringerNature). Between 2016 and 2018, she was the Oxford Fellow at the Future Council for Cybersecurity of the World Economic Forum, helping to identify the ethical and policy cybersecurity problems that could impair the development of future societies.

Key publications

Articles

• Taddeo, M. (2017). "Cyber Conflicts and Political Power in Information Societies." Published in Minds and Machines, 27(2), 265–268. DOI: 10.1007/s11023-017-9436-3.
• Taddeo, M. (2017). "Data Philanthropy and Individual Rights." Published in Minds and Machines, 27(1), 1–5. DOI: 10.1007/s11023-019-09507-5.
• Taddeo, M. and Floridi, L. (2016). "The Responsibilities of Online Service Providers." Part of the Law, Governance and Technology Series by Springer. DOI: Not directly available, but book details can be found here.
• Taddeo, M., McCutcheon, T., and Floridi, L. (2019). "Trusting artificial intelligence in cybersecurity is a double-edged sword." Published in Nature Machine Intelligence, 1(12), 557–560. DOI: 10.1038/s42256-019-0109-1. · Taddeo M. and Floridi, Luciano (2018). "Regulate artificial intelligence to avert cyber arms race". Nature. 556 (7701): 296–298. Bibcode:2018Natur.556..296T. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-04602-6. · Taddeo M. McCutcheon, T, Floridi, L. (2019). "Trusting artificial intelligence in cybersecurity is a double-edged sword". Nature. 1 (12): 557–560. doi:10.1038/s42256-019-0109-1.
• A. Blanchard and Taddeo M. “Jus in Bello Necessity, the Requirement of Minimal Force, and Autonomous Weapon Systems”. Journal of Military Ethics.
• M. Taddeo and A. Blanchard, “Accepting Moral Responsibility for the Actions of Autonomous Weapons Systems—a Moral Gambit”. Philosophy & Technology 35 (3): 78.
• L. Floridi, M. Holweg, M. Taddeo, J. Silva, J. Mökander, Y. Wen, “CapAI - A Procedure for Conducting Conformity Assessment of AI Systems in Line with the EU Artificial Intelligence Act”. Research Report, Oxford Internet Institute and Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
• M. Taddeo, M. Ziosi, A. Tsamados, L. Gilli, S. Kurpati, “Artificial Intelligence for National Security: The Predictability Problem”. Research Report. London: Centre for Emerging Technology and Security.
• M. Taddeo, A. Blanchard. “Autonomous Weapon Systems and Jus Ad Bellum”. AI and Society, March
• M. Taddeo and A. Blanchard. ‘A Comparative Analysis of the Definitions of Autonomous Weapons Systems’. Science and Engineering Ethics 28 (5): 37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-022-00392-3
• H. Roberts, J. Cowls, E. Hine, J. Morley, M. Taddeo, V. Wang, L. Floridi.
• “Artificial Intelligence in China and the European Union: Comparing Aims and Promoting Ethical Outcomes”. The Information Society, September.
• M. Taddeo, A. Blanchard, D. McNeish, E. Edgar. “Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence in the Defence”. Philosophy & Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-021-00482-3

Edited books

• “The Responsibilities of Online Service Providers” (2016, with L. Floridi): this book explores the complex responsibilities of online service providers in our increasingly digital societies. It delves into the challenges posed by internet services' global dimensions and their evolving nature.
• “Ethics and Policies for Cyber Operations: A NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence Initiative” (2016, with L. Glorioso). This book is part of their collaborative work on the ethics and governance of cyber operations, particularly in the context of national and international security
• “The Ethics of Information Warfare” (2014, with L. Floridi): This publication examines the ethical dilemmas presented by information warfare, offering insights into the various methods and approaches to address these issues.

Recognition

She has received multiple awards for her work on Digital Ethics, among which:

• the 2010 Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy
• the 2016 World Technology Award for Ethics
• in 2018, InspiringFifty named her among the most inspiring 50 Italian women working in technology
• in 2018 and 2020 ORBIT listed her among the top 100 women working on the Ethics of AI globally
• in 2020 she was named one of the twelve 2020 "Outstanding Rising Talents" by the Women's Forum for Economy and Society
• in 2020 and 2023, ComputerWeekly listed her among the top 100 most influential women in technology in the UK
• in 2023 Il Corriere della Sera (Italian newspaper) named among women of 2023.

Published works

Taddeo has published two books.

• The Responsibilities of Online Service Providers, (2016) (2016) explores the responsibility of online service providers in contemporary societies, examining the complexity and global dimensions of the rapidly evolving challenges posed by the development of internet services.
• The Ethics of Information Warfare (2014), examines the ethical problems posed by information warfare and the different methods and approaches used to solve them.

Podcast and video

Videos see Taddeo's official paylist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnuCxVthpDrvxNkYE17VqPcY-EUdlxJO

Podcasts see Guerre digitali: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/guerre-digitali--574383