Ethics for People Who Work in Tech, M. Steen (2022) 216pp., €128 hardback, Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, New York, ISBN 9780367543303

The first thing you notice about this book is the pile of white Lego bricks on the cover. Is this what is to come unless we change? A singularly white outlook? A wasteland of plastic? The ideal state? An ivory tower? A book that promises to bring ethics down from the ivory tower – in only 216 pages. This is quite a promise for a tiny tome, and almost certainly too large to deliver. Still, approaching the book with curiosity, I hoped it would provide sorely needed practical guidance. The last four years have seen a proliferation of data ethics and AI strategies, many of which have had little effect.