© 2025 Freddie Seba. All rights reserved.
Introduction
When the Times reached out to discuss the ethical implications of a Gen AI application whose marketing message revolved around cheating, our conversation quickly moved beyond productivity or performance. We talked about trust and what it means when Gen AI tools don’t just assist users but actively rationalize dishonesty.
In that interview, I shared a concern that goes far beyond one app or classroom:
“If you believe everybody’s cheating, I mean, why pay taxes, right? Why stop at the traffic light? Imagine as a society if everybody thought that because a handful of people are gaming the system. That logic doesn’t resonate for me.”
When GenAI frames cheating as “normal” or “something everyone does,” it’s not just a red flag for leadership —it’s a warning sign for leaders in every sector.
What the Interview Revealed
Gen AI tools can help their users bypass learning and decision-making—in the case of the tool in this article, not by accident, but by design. When they were asked whether using Gen AI for job interviews, assignments, or assessments is cheating, many systems justify it with the following:
“Everyone does it.”
“It’s efficient.”
Technology is not neutral. It is a tool that reflects its creators and users. In this case, there are ethical considerations, revealing that some Gen AI tools are being built without integrity safeguards, often with incentives that prioritize user performance over ethics or doing the right thing.
To the extent that Gen AI is created or promoted to prioritize results or speed over integrity, it encourages users to do the same.
Why This Matters
This issue extends well beyond education, health care, or finance. Gen AI systems are increasingly embedded into:
- Hiring and recruiting
- Performance evaluations
- Credit approvals
- Content generation
- Clinical documentation, grading, and financial analysis
To the extent Gen AI applications normalize cutting corners or encourage “gaming the system” over integrity or ethics, we will embed that logic into conducting research, providing care, running meetings, making decisions, and conducting ourselves in society.
What Ethical and Governance Requirements
This isn’t a technology flaw but an ethics, governance, and leadership challenge.
For authentic leaders to succeed in the Gen AI era, they should factor in ethics and governance in their strategies and tactics:
1. Human-Centered Design
Gen AI applications reflect values you want to uphold in your teams, organizations, and society: truth, fairness, accountability, and care, not just speed or convenience. It is not either or; it is both!
2. Transparency and Disclosures
Leaders should ensure their teams and organizations indicate when Gen AI is utilized. Hopefully, in the rare cases where Gen AI applications cross ethical and governance lines, especially in critical sectors and applications such as education, healthcare, and finance, such as hiring, diagnosing, communicating, or approving credit, they should be immediately remediated and transmitted to the proper channels.
3. Ethics and Governance Informed Growth
Leaders should ensure that teams do not prioritize “grow as fast as possible” over “responsible and ethical growth, albeit slowly.” This includes setting clear ethical and governance frameworks for Gen AI deployment and use, not after it harms stakeholders, your organization, and society.
4. Leadership Awareness and Vigilance
Authentic leaders should emphasize that using Gen AI tools aligns with their organization’s mission, goals, long-term viability, and society.
Ethics and Governance are Core to Authentic Leaders’ Success
To the extent leaders do not proactively create awareness on potential Gen AI applications issues, which may reward short-term wins over long-term viability, trust, systemic values, and human and societal flourishing, they risk:
- Eroding their teams and the organization’s integrity
- Undermining their organization’s culture and viability
- Jeopardizing stakeholders’ trust – teams, clients, patients, students, and society
- Diminishing leadership credibility and effectiveness
Hence, Gen AI Ethics and Governance are not a compliance or risk mitigation thing; it is a critical part of an authentic leader’s strategic tools:
In this rapidly shifting technology market, policy, and society, authentic leaders should ask themselves: As a leader, what values am I embedding in my teams and organizations?
What am I modeling and promoting regarding ethical and long-term viability as a leader? Am I normalizing dishonesty that will eventually affect my organization and career?
Key Takeaway
This newsletter installment is not about any Gen AI company’s approach to promoting their tools, but about what leaders want their teams and organizations to emulate. To the extent that leaders allow or promote Gen AI tools, which ” normalize dishonesty,” to achieve goals, they are shaping their teams’ and organizations’ culture, which may distract them from their mission and goals, negatively impacting their stakeholders and society.
Gen AI adoption continues to increase through apps or by embedding them into systems. It impacts how we communicate, behave, work, learn, and live. Gen AI Ethics and Governance are critical for leaders and society.
Previous Topics in This Series
- #1: Bias & Trust in GenAI
- #2: Data Privacy & Security
- #3: Accountability & Traceability
- #4: Workforce Impact & AI Literacy
- #5: IP & Ownership
- #6: Human-Centered Efficiency
- #7: Human-in-the-Loop Systems
- #8: GenAI in Regulated Industries
- #9: Search & Information Integrity
- #10: Deepfakes & Self-Improving Models
- #11: AI Hype vs. Realism
- #12: AI at Work: Autonomy and Oversight
- #13: Governance Gaps and VC-Funded Oversight
About the Author
Freddie Seba is a GenAI ethics strategist, educator, and EdD candidate in Organizational Leadership at the University of San Francisco. He holds an MBA from Yale and a MIP from Stanford. His work spans higher education, digital health, financial services, and AI ethics leadership.
More: freddieseba.com | LinkedIn
Transparency Statement
This newsletter reflects insights from my research, teaching, and advisory work on GenAI governance. I use GenAI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grammarly) to support drafting structure, but I review, edit, and author all content.
For broader community engagement, select versions may appear on Substack, LinkedIn, and freddieseba.com.
Mentions & Gratitude
University of San Francisco, USF School of Nursing and Health Professions, AAC&U, AMIA, Stanford HAI, Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), CAHIIM#GenAI #GenAIEthics #AIgovernance #AIleadership #ResponsibleAI #HumanCenteredAI #DigitalEthics #FutureOfWork #AIinEducation #AcademicIntegrity #AIandLeadership #InnovationWithIntegrity