Rethinking AI Ethics: The Startup Edge

February 26, 2026 – 5:00 PM – AI Startup Center

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The debate around AI ethics is currently shaped by top-down regulatory efforts — well-intentioned, yet often slow, innovation-averse, and disconnected from the realities of entrepreneurial practice. Meanwhile, Big Tech continues to fall short of societal expectations, reinforcing the perception that ethical responsibility in AI is either an afterthought or an obstacle to progress. – But what if there were another path?

In his book Zukunftsethik der Künstlichen Intelligenz, Christian Hugo Hoffmann, Director of the AI Startup Center, proposes a fresh approach: AI ethics as business ethics, driven not by regulatory pressure nor corporate PR strategies, but by morally superior startups. At the heart of his work is a concept of responsibility that is both philosophically sound and appealing to practitioners.

Building on this perspective, the AI Startup Center (AISC), together with the Ethics Community of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) of the University of Zurich, will host an event that will serve not only as a book vernissage but as a platform to connect industry, startups and academia.