Research
Philosophical inquiry into digital technologies.
01 — Research Areas
Platform Ethics & Governance
We analyze the norms, policies, and technical architectures that shape speech, data, commerce, and identity online, and develop normative frameworks for ethical platform design and governance.
Data Ethics
We develop systematic frameworks and practical guidelines for responsible data use across AI, platforms, and public institutions, with attention to power, consent, and social impact.
AI Ethics & Policy
We address questions of algorithmic accountability, bias and fairness, transparency, and the distribution of power in AI development, with a focus on both technical standards and policy frameworks.
Mental Health & Biotech
We investigate technology-induced psychological harms, access to and the effectiveness of digital mental health interventions, and the ethical boundaries between treatment and enhancement.
02 — Publications
Selected Work
Platform Ethics & Governance
Howard, C. (n.d.). Decentralizing the digital public sphere. Working paper.
Morin-Martel, A. (Forthcoming). Are you even a person? Agency-directed distrust and artificial interlocutors. Ergo.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H. (Forthcoming). Dépendance épistémique et liberté d'expression dans la sphère publique numérique. In M. Potvin, M. Lacroix, & J.-F. Gaudreault-Desbiens (Eds.), Savoirs, science, liberté académique, et liberté d'expression au Canada. Presses de l'Université de Montréal.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H., & Stoljar, N. (2026). Automated gatekeepers: How recommender systems shape and constrain autonomy. In M. Anzalone, S. Achella, F. Battaglia, & A. Donise (Eds.), Reconfiguring Human Autonomy: Conceptual Challenges and Ethical Implications in the Age of AI (Integrated Science, Vol. 40). Springer Nature.
Howard, C. (2026). Rational feelings for virtual things? Philosophical Issues, 35(1), 85–92.
AI Ethics & Policy
Cossette-Lefebvre, H. (Forthcoming). Le contenu généré par l'IA a-t-il de la valeur? IA génératives, le statut d'auteur, et autonomie personnelle. In L. Langlois (Ed.), IA générative, culture et médias. Presses de l'Université Laval.
Howard, C. (n.d.). Power diffusion through pluralism: The case for decentralized AI. Working paper.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H., & Lippert-Rasmussen, K. (2025). Neither direct, nor indirect: Understanding proxy-based algorithmic discrimination. The Journal of Ethics, 29, 719–745.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H. (2025). The social turn in the ethics of AI: Between deliberation and relational justice. In M. Hähnel & R. Müller (Eds.), A Companion to Applied Philosophy of AI (pp. 295–309). Wiley-Blackwell.
Maclure, J., & Morin-Martel, A. (2025). AI ethics' institutional turn. Digital Society, 4, 18.
Morin-Martel, A. (2024). Machine learning in bail decisions and judges' trustworthiness. AI & Society, 39(4), 2033–2044.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H., & Maclure, J. (2023). AI's fairness problem: Understanding wrongful discrimination in the context of automated decision-making. AI & Ethics, 3(4), 1255–1269.
Maclure, J. (2021). AI, explainability and public reason: The argument from the limitations of the human mind. Minds and Machines, 31(3), 421–438.
Maclure, J., & Russell, S. (2021). AI for humanity: The global challenges. In B. Braunschweig & M. Ghallab (Eds.), Reflections on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 12600, pp. 116–126).
Maclure, J. (2020). The new AI spring: A deflationary view. AI & Society, 35, 747–750.
Data Ethics & Measurement
Rodriguez Duque, S., Tal, E., & Barbic, S. (2024). The role of ethical and social values in psychosocial measurement. Measurement, 225, 113993.
Tal, E. (2023). Target specification bias, counterfactual prediction, and algorithmic fairness in healthcare. In Proceedings of the 2023 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '23) (pp. 312–321). ACM.
Tal, E. (2020). Measurement in science. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Mental Health & Biotech
Paquin, V., Lavallee, Z., Huot-Lavoie, M., Ku, B. S., Díaz-Caneja, C. M., & Gülöksüz, S. (2026). Situating problematic gaming and psychotic-like experiences in the adolescent landscape of affordances. Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
Paquin, V., Jiang, R., Shah, J. L., Jarvis, G. E., Nickrenz, E., Ferrari, M., & Park, M. (2026). Knowing how to ask about digital culture in youth mental health care: A co-designed tool. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 20(7), e70203.
Cossette-Lefebvre, H., Maclure, J., Vold, K., Facal, C., & Dumont, I. (2025). Avatars numériques post-mortem et deuil: Un point de vue éthique. Psychologie Québec.
Petropoulos, G., Copoeru, I., Kemp, R., Lavallee, Z., Moskalewicz, M., Westin, A., & Messas, G. (2025). The unrealized potential of phenomenology in understanding addiction. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology.
Paquin, V. (2025). Taking the long view on digital culture and mental health: Principles from critical realism. Qualitative Health Research, 10497323251389814.
Lavallee, Z., & Osler, L. (2024). Affordances and the shape of addiction. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 31(4), 379–395.
Lavallee, Z. (2023). Affective scaffolding in addiction. Inquiry, 1–29.
Hirose, I. (2022). The Ethics of Pandemics: An Introduction. Routledge.
Lavallee, Z. (2020). Addictive craving: There's more to wanting more. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 27(3), 227–238.
Complete Publication List
27 publications since 2020.