A Quick Guide to Ethical AI with Dr Kerry McInerney
What is artificial intelligence and what makes its development and use ethical?
Recorded at the RIAA Conference Aotearoa NZ 2026 in Auckland, Dr Rodger Spiller speaks with AI ethicist Dr Kerry McInerney about the ideas behind her keynote, A Quick Guide to Ethical AI.
Kerry helps us understand what the term “AI” covers and how to develop a grounded perspective amid competing promises and fears about the technology’s future.
We explore why AI is not neutral: how it reflects the values and assumptions of its creators, how historical data can reproduce discrimination, and how its use can reinforce existing inequalities. Kerry encourages us to consider how AI shifts power, who benefits and who may bear the costs.
The conversation also considers AI’s environmental impacts and why technical fixes alone cannot address its ethical challenges. We discuss the importance of rights, accountability and ensuring that different perspectives help shape the technology.
Kerry concludes with practical guidance for engaging with AI more critically and responsibly in everyday life and work—including recognising where it is useful and asking whether it is the right solution in the first place.
For ethical investors, this conversation provides valuable context for understanding the technologies they may be investing in and considering how AI’s benefits and harms are shared.
Dr Kerry McInerney is an AI ethicist and lecturer at the University of Auckland’s School of Computer Science. Her research examines AI’s social and political impacts, particularly gender- and race-based discrimination.
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