Making Ethics Work: Prof. Christoph Lütge on Order Ethics, AI and Trustworthy Technology

On October 26th, 2026 Institute Director Prof. Christoph Lütge sat down with Daniël Marijn Bank, a doctoral researcher at Hanken School of Economics, for a podcast interview on how ethical principles and guidelines can be translated into practice, and how institutions, incentives and emerging technologies can help foster responsible behavior. The podcast was recorded during the ERC-funded Blockchain4Biodiversity/ReSeed roundtable at Hanken School of Economics, in which Prof. Lütge was an invited expert.

Prof. Lütge begins by exploring his intellectual journey, research interests and perspectives on contemporary ethical challenges. The conversation then turns to order ethics, an approach that emphasizes the role of institutional rules and incentive structures in creating conditions that encourage responsible behavior and cooperation. Drawing on his work community-in-the-Loop, co-authored with Johann Jakob Häußermann, Prof. Lütge cites the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence. This leads to questions about the limitations of purely technical approaches to AI ethics and how stakeholders with different values and interests might collectively shape acceptable ethical arrangements. Throughout the conversation, Prof. Lütge highlights the constructive role ethics can play in addressing societal challenges, including how institutional and technological “guardrails” can support ethical decision-making in business and society.

Watch a video of the podcast below.