CFP: AvataResponsibility 2026: Virtues without borders: humans, avatars and collective agents

Venue: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, 8 & 9 October 2026

Description: Alongside the growing complexity of collective agents such as organizations, groundbreaking developments in AI and robotics are reshaping our moral landscape in profound and unprecedented ways. With LLM-powered avatars, AI companions, and hybrid human-AI assemblages taking the scene, we are witnessing radical challenges to longstanding assumptions about the nature of agency, virtue and moral character. Can virtues such as honesty, practical wisdom, or care be attributed to artificial or collective agents, or do they remain the exclusive province of individual human beings? The purpose of this two-day workshop is to explore the puzzle of virtue attribution across an emerging taxonomy of agents, from human to LLM-powered avatars operating in professional, educational, healthcare or virtual gaming environments, to collective agents encompassing human and artificial agency in organizational settings. Drawing on research from virtue ethics, AI ethics, and business ethics, the workshop aims to interrogate both the theoretical foundations and the practical stakes of extending the traditional virtue-theoretic framework beyond its traditional human-centered scope.

Organizers: This is the third of a series of five yearly workshops hosted by the Research Center in Applied Ethics of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, within the framework of the ERC Starting Grant project “avataResponsibility” (Avatar agency. Moral responsibility at the intersection of individual, collective, and artificial social entities in emergent avatar communities). Details of the previous edition are available here. The workshop is part of the larger series of events “Responsibility Matters Workshop Series” (RMWS) covering topics related to responsibility across various fields. For further details please contact Mihaela Constantinescu, PI of the ERC grant avataResponsibility: [email protected].

Keynote and Guest Speakers include

Roger Crisp, University of Oxford

Miguel Sicart, University of Copenhagen 

Alejo Sison, University of Navarre 

Dulce Redin, University of Navarre 

Anna Puzio, University of Bern

Cristian Iftode, University of Bucharest 

Benjamin Lange, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Submissions: We have two open slots for workshop talks and four open slots for workshop posters. We welcome submissions of abstracts (maximum 500 words, excluding references) on topics relating virtue to avatars, AI companions, artificial or collective agents . Please send your anonymised abstract and short bio by 27 July 2026 to [email protected]. Successful candidates will be notified by the beginning of August. Although full costs cannot be covered, there might be several (partial) travel/ accomodation reimbursements available for PhD students and post-doctoral researchers without current funding.