Our Ethics Unwrapped blog posts are often prompted by books we’ve read—usually books about morality, psychology, philosophy, business practices and other decidedly nonfiction topics. This is a novel blog post in that it is prompted by a novel which will catch many people’s attention because Oprah Winfrey recommended it to her book club members. Like Oprah, we recommend Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability (Spiegel & Grau 2025) as a good read for people who have not yet put much thought into the ethical implications of the rapid invasion of our economy and society by artificial intelligence but realize that they should do so.

In quick summary, the pivotal event of the book is a car wreck. The Cassidy-Shaw family members–Noah (lawyer dad), Lorelei (genius mom who just happens to have Ph.Ds in both philosophy and engineering with a McArthur Genius Award for her work in AI ethics), Charlie (college-bound 17-year-old), Alice (brilliant but withdrawn tween), and Izzy (the kid sister with lots of personality)—are in a car heading to a lacrosse tournament. Charlie is in the driver’s seat, but an advanced AI system is in control of the car…until Alice screams from the backseat, prompting Charlie to grab the wheel, disengaging the AI. The car collides with another vehicle, killing the elderly couple who occupy it. The family members suffer physical injuries to varying degrees but all escape with relatively minor injuries, though not without psychological scars.

Before Charlie goes off to college, the family heads to a coastal cabin for a brief vacation where they come into contact with billionaire Daniel Monet, who just happens to be in the AI business. Holsinger provides us with a bit of not-too-subtle commentary on today’s billionaire class, but the bulk of the book unspools as a family drama. We learn about Lorelei’s undisclosed past relationship with Monet, Noah’s jealousy and tendency to drink too much, Charlie’s previous semi-delinquent behavior, Alice’s secret and unhealthy relationship with a chatbot, and Izzy’s poor choices and deceptions.

Lurking in the background (perhaps too far into the background) is the question raised by the novel’s title—who is culpable for the accident and the deaths of the elderly couple? As the novel progresses, Holsinger slowly feeds the reading/listening audience tidbits that a lawyer could use to place at least some of the blame on every single member of the Cassidy-Shaw family, as well as on the self-driving car (or at least its designers, manufacturer, and sellers). He thereby cleverly, and perhaps belatedly, brings into focus the issue of culpability in the age of AI.

Although Holsinger briefly discusses deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and the trolley problem, readers who have thought seriously about AI ethics are unlikely to gain much from Culpability that they wouldn’t get out of any beach read. But for readers who have not spent much time thinking about the ethics of this revolutionary force that is likely to dramatically change most of our lives in the near future via autonomous vehicles, advanced chatbots and the like, this book is arguably a nice starting point. Book club members should be able to profitably discuss the AI issues that Culpability raises even if the club has no philosophers or engineers among its members.

Holsinger also raises issues regarding military and non-military uses of AI drones and non-AI moral issues, such as whether the billionaire class has special obligations to the rest of us, how far parents should go in protecting their children when those children have messed up, and how married couples should manage their disclosure obligations to one another.

P.S. A surprise ending suggests that the book could just as appropriately have been titled “Accountability.”

Sources:

Susie Alegre, Human Rights, Robot Wrongs: Being Human in the Age of AI (2024).

Reid Blackman, The Ethical Nightmare Challenge: How to Avoid the Worst of AI (2026).

Jana Schaich Borg, Moral AI and How We Get There (2024).

Virginia Dignum, The AI Paradox: How to Make Sense of a Complex Future (2026).

David Edmonds, Would You Kill the Fat Man? The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong (2014).

Bruce Holsinger, Culpability (2025).

Videos:

Ethics Unwrapped, Running with Scissors: AI and the Race for the Future, at https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/running-with-scissors-ai-and-the-race-for-the-future