Minji Jang

Research

My main research interests are in (1) the ethics and governance of AI, (2) brand authenticity, and (3) moral and social philosophy.

Ethics and governance of AI

AI at work

I explore how organizations should reallocate discretion, judgment, and accountability as AI systems increasingly take on a consequential role in decision pipelines, and what that reallocation does to the human members who remain.

Jang, M. “Humanness in the Loop.” Under review.

  • How can organizations address a dilemma that arises when the human errors that autonomous decision systems are meant to correct structurally overlap with the elements of humanness that we want to preserve?

Jang, M., Lankoski, L., Ronnegard, D., & Smith, N. C. “Conceptualizing Reasonable Care in Human-AI Systems.” Working paper.

  • What does reasonable care require in complex human-AI systems?

Jang, M., & Choe, Y. J. “That’s What Claude Said: AI Overreliance as Unwarranted Closure of Inquiry.” In preparation.

  • When does reliance on AI become overreliance, and how should organizations address it?

Jang, M. “Toward a Discretion-Based Account of AI’s Organizational Status.” In preparation.

  • What organizational status does an AI warrant when it critically shapes organizational decisions, not simply executing human orders?

Meaning and justice in the age of AI

In two companion papers, we explore the questions of meaning and justice in the age of automation—or what we call the “age of abundant intelligence,” in which intelligence once deemed the hallmark of humanity becomes as cheap and plentiful as grain became with mechanized agriculture.

Jang, M. & Tsetlin, I. “Staying Human: Meaning in Life in the Age of Abundant Intelligence.” In preparation.

  • Will the rapid advancement of AI threaten the human pursuit of meaning?

Jang, M. & Tsetlin, I. “Just Disruption: AI, Self-Respect, and the Difference Principle.” In preparation.

  • Do the principles of justice demand decelerating the distribution of AI capabilities?

Brand authenticity

We develop a thicker account of brand authenticity that can explain the widely observed yet under-explained tension between authenticity and commercialization.

Jang, M. & Smith, N. C. “The Trouble with Authenticity.” Under review.

  • What do consumers look for when they judge a brand’s authenticity, and how can managers make their claims to authenticity credible in a market shaped by reasonable consumer skepticism?

Moral and social philosophy

I also work on normative and applied ethics, with a focus on blame and microaggressions.

Jang, M. “Moral Anger, Blame, and Microaggressions.” Under review.

Jang, M. “Passable Offense: A New Structural Account of Microaggressions.” Working paper.

  • (Winner of the Minorities and Philosophy Ethicist Prize at the Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress)