Should Programmers Be Required to Study Ethics?

In many professions, ethics is treated as essential. Doctors study bioethics to balance science with humanity. Lawyers complete courses in professional responsibility because justice requires more than technical skill. Business leaders examine corporate ethics to balance profit with responsibility. These requirements exist because each profession makes decisions that directly impact human lives.

By comparison, students pursuing careers in information technology and artificial intelligence often receive no ethics training. The absence of this expectation is striking, given the influence of technology in daily life. Programmers and developers create systems that increasingly affect decisions about employment, health, security, and access to resources. These are not simply technical outcomes but decisions with profound human consequences.

The story of Theranos illustrates what happens when technology and ethics diverge. The company promised revolutionary blood-testing technology but lacked transparency, accountability, and scientific integrity. Patients received inaccurate results that influenced medical decisions, investors were misled, and employees faced pressure to remain silent. The case revealed how harmful outcomes can follow when technical innovation is pursued without an ethical foundation. Although Theranos centered on medical technology, the lesson can also apply to software and AI.

Technology has never been neutral. Every algorithm reflects the values and choices of its designers. When those choices remain unexamined, unintended harm can follow. A credit scoring system may unintentionally reinforce inequality. A hiring algorithm may filter candidates unfairly. A medical model may overlook entire groups of patients. These failures are not malicious but a result of limited awareness, insufficient oversight, and an education system that treats ethics as optional.

Artificial intelligence magnifies these concerns. Traditional software follows explicit human instructions, but AI adapts and recommends decisions in ways that are not always transparent. This means the responsibility for fairness and accountability rests heavily on those who design and train these systems. If a predictive policing tool amplifies bias or a diagnostic system makes unsafe recommendations, society looks for accountability. The people who create these systems may not have the ethical preparation required to meet that responsibility.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Other professions provide a clear model. Medicine teaches students how to navigate dilemmas where the correct answer is not apparent. Law schools emphasize duties to clients and society. Business programs explore how organizations can make decisions that avoid harm while achieving growth. These examples demonstrate that ethics can be taught in a structured, practical way that informs professional practice.

An ethics curriculum for technology professionals should include more than abstract debate. It should focus on bias, transparency, privacy, accountability, and the social impact of automation. Students need to learn how bias enters data and how to reduce it, why transparency matters, how to handle sensitive information responsibly, and how to design systems with safeguards. These lessons are not peripheral. They are central to building technology that earns trust.

Leaving ethics as an elective signals that responsibility is optional. That message is no longer acceptable. Just as society requires ethical training from doctors, lawyers, and business leaders, it should also require ethical training from those building the systems that increasingly shape human experience. This is not only about preparing individuals. It is about setting a professional standard that reflects the weight of technological influence in society.

Academic institutions and industry leaders share responsibility for this shift. Universities should require ethics for IT and related degrees. Employers should reinforce this expectation through ongoing training and organizational governance. Together, these efforts would ensure that those who design the future of technology are equipped to consider what systems can do and what they should not do.

Technology is powerful, but power without responsibility is dangerous. A required ethics curriculum would prepare programmers and developers to design fair, transparent, and human-centered systems. As with medicine, law, and business, the goal is not to produce philosophers but professionals who can balance technical expertise with ethical responsibility.