TLDR: The Montreal AI Ethics Institute (MAIEI) has launched its ‘State of AI Ethics Report (SAIER) Volume 7: AI at the Crossroads: A Practitioner’s Guide to Community-Centered Solutions’. The report highlights the growing disparity between responsible AI innovation and its real-world implementation and governance, advocating for genuine community co-creation in AI decision-making. Featuring 48 essays from 58 international contributors, it covers AI applications across diverse sectors like education, healthcare, military, and entertainment.
MONTREAL – The Montreal AI Ethics Institute (MAIEI) officially announced the release of its highly anticipated ‘State of AI Ethics Report (SAIER) Volume 7: AI at the Crossroads: A Practitioner’s Guide to Community-Centered Solutions’ on November 4, 2025. This comprehensive white paper directly confronts a critical challenge in the global artificial intelligence landscape: the widening chasm between the principles of responsible AI innovation and the practical realities of how AI systems are developed, deployed, and governed across various sectors.
The report, now available at montrealethics.ai, is a collaborative effort, compiling insights from 48 essays penned by 58 international contributors. These experts hail from a diverse array of institutions, including the University of Oxford, Cambridge University, Infocomm Media Development Authority (Singapore), and the Governance and Responsible AI Lab at Purdue University, among others. The volume delves into sectoral applications of AI, examining its impact and ethical considerations in fields ranging from education and healthcare to military operations and entertainment.
Renjie Butalid, MAIEI Co-Founder, emphasized the power dynamics at play in AI governance. “If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that AI governance is fundamentally about power: who has it, who controls it, and how communities respond when excluded from decisions that shape their lives,” Butalid stated. He further stressed the necessity of moving beyond superficial consultations: “If we want ethical AI systems, we must move from consultation theatre to genuine co-creation. Communities must be in the rooms where decisions are made.”
Kei Baritugo, MAIEI Director of Global Marketing Communications, painted a stark picture of potential futures without ethical foresight. “Mass layoffs, deepfakes, and disinformation fuel a dystopian future as AI further embeds in core infrastructures. We’ve seen this movie. We know how it ends,” Baritugo warned. She underscored the urgency of embedding ethical considerations from the outset, adding, “Each new investment cements the current trajectory, unless equity and justice are built in by design. Humanity is at a crossroads.”
MAIEI has been a consistent voice in the AI ethics discourse, having published six previous editions of the SAIER since 2018, long before AI became a mainstream topic. The institute’s reports are known for documenting case studies and centering community perspectives that are often marginalized in policy and governance discussions.
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Beyond governance, the report also highlights the need for greater transparency regarding AI’s environmental footprint, a clear understanding of which policies and interventions are truly effective, and a fundamental shift in perception—treating AI as an assistive tool rather than a replacement for human labor and creativity. It also raises questions about the ability of middle power nations, like Canada, to maintain sovereign AI governance standards amidst a global landscape where superpowers often prioritize technological dominance over safety.
