Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: Medical Ethics Expert Discusses Concerns About Transparency of Clinical Trials

By Tom Corwin for The Augusta Chronicle
Dr. Jennifer Miller asked who considered pharmaceutical companies honest and ethical and in the room full of medical residents and students at Augusta University not a single hand went up.

“Zero?” said Miller, who has given her presentation many times. “I’ve never gotten zero.” She is trying to change company behavior by grading them on how well they adhere to ethical standards in clinical trials and transparency. Read more

By Tom Simonite for WIRED
Leading artificial-intelligence researchers gathered this week for the prestigious Neural Information Processing Systems conference have a new topic on their agenda. Alongside the usual cutting-edge research, panel discussions, and socializing: concern about AI’s power. Read more

By Matthew Santoni for the Tribune-Review
For his business ethics classes, Professor Bryan McCarthy saw the Amazon contest as an opportunity to apply his lessons through research and debate of a real-world, contemporary topic as it was unfolding. In September, much of his lesson plan was changed in favor of exploring the Amazon bid. Read more

By Christiaan Hetzner for Automotive News
Volkswagen AG’s new anti-corruption czar, Kurt Michels, has reorganized the automaker’s compliance system as he seeks to eliminate the culture that helped its diesel emissions cheating remain undetected for years.

Instead of 25 standalone systems for the group’s different brands and companies — which include luxury marques such as Porsche, Audi and Bentley and the mass-market VW, Skoda and Seat brands — VW Group will have one central investigation office. Porsche and Audi, as well as VW’s MAN and Scania heavy truck divisions, also get additional investigation offices. Read more