On December 4th, the Project Lead, Dr. Franziska Poszler, together with the Communications Consultant, Anastasia Aritzi, and the assisting students of the MoralPLai team, gathered for their monthly in-person meeting. This meeting provided an opportunity to review progress, share updates on ongoing tasks, reflect on recent challenges and lessons learned and discuss the next steps in the project’s journey.
The meeting began with a reflection on the IEAI x IBM Event, an initiative inspired by the MoralPLai Project and held a few weeks prior. This event’s success underscored the team’s dedication and the effective allocation of responsibilities among the students, whose efforts were pivotal in bringing it to fruition.
Afterwards, the assisting students presented their individual tasks, sharing their outputs, findings and insights while addressing the challenges they encountered during implementation. More specifically, on the quantitative research front, significant advancements were made through a review of past experimental studies that explored the intersection of psychology, morality, and Large Language Models (LLMs). Meanwhile, the plans for the qualitative research efforts were presented, which included, among other things, identifying fitting target groups for the upcoming focus group discussions. The team also delved into the relationship between ethics and generative AI, such as ChatGPT, by collecting perspectives expressed on social media platforms. This exploration offered valuable insights into how users around the world perceive and interact with these tools, a topic the team plans to examine further in the coming months. To mark the close of this productive year, the team celebrated with a visit to one of Munich’s traditional Christmas markets, enjoying the festive atmosphere in the heart of the city.
During the last week before Christmas, the core team also met virtually with the US-based project member, Professor Carys Kresny, to share updates, discuss the Project Lead’s upcoming trip to the United States in January and finalize plans for the implementation of the project’s final script. These efforts will culminate in a performance scheduled for May 22nd at the Amerikahaus in Munich.
The MoralPLai Project has made impressive progress over the past eight months. As we head into 2025, our team remains committed to presenting findings that unite academics, researchers, students, and industry professionals from around the globe, while exploring the opportunities and risks of using AI tools, such as LLMs, for ethical decision-making, a topic that impacts the lives of countless users worldwide.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all team members, student assistants, partners, collaborators and funding organizations whose contributions have been instrumental in advancing the MoralPLai Project.
Season’s greetings and we look forward to another exciting year of collaboration and progress.
Visit the MoralPLai Project webpage to learn more and stay tuned for more updates.
Our assisting students at a glance: Ezgi Akgün, Selin Aktaş, KuanXin Chen, Thy Duong, Arfa Khan, Xin Rou Lee, Lan Yu