With Unil, the neighboring campus, releasing a comprehensive report reviewing the ethics of external collaborations in light of national and international law and human rights, EPFL once again demonstrates the incompetence of its GEP (Global Ethics and Partnerships Committee). This follows the release of their controversial “ChatGPT report” in July 2024, which highlighted irresponsible ethical analysis methods and a lack of transparency regarding ongoing problematic collaborations. Since then, the GEP and ILOT have restricted avenues for dialogue with us, their students, effectively preventing constructive feedback and continuous improvement of their methods.  

The fundamental issue may lie in the fact that *scientists are not ethical experts*. While the ILOT report provides a snapshot evaluation at a given moment, it fails to establish a sustainable mechanism, like the one at Unil, to ensure the university’s long-term avoidance of complicity in crimes. As it stands, *EPFL has no solid evaluation tool to avoid genocide complicity*.  

In the context of a genocide that has persisted for a year and a half, repeated violations of International Law, and escalating conflicts worldwide, we demand that our institution establish a competent external ethical committee. This committee must ensure that our knowledge and research are not weaponized to fuel conflicts or violate International Law and Human Rights, under the guise of so-called “dual-use” applications or the “development of surveillance technologies that may restrict human rights and civil liberties.” EPFL’s external collaborations are heavily concentrated in these areas, which the ERC (European Research Council) identifies as sensitive research sectors requiring rigorous ethical risk assessment and analysis [1]. This urgency is further underscored when such collaborations involve institutions like TECHNION, a university that openly takes pride in developing AI technologies [2] and weapons [3] used during the Gaza genocide [4]. Despite this, EPFL has renewed collaborations with TECHNION under the EuroTeq partnership [5] and other AI-related research initiatives [6][7].  

We urge the new EPFL leadership to follow the example of neighboring universities and other European institutions by establishing and mandating a competent ethical committee. This committee should include experts in International Law and Human Rights to review ongoing collaborations and research projects, ensuring that EPFL’s students and researchers are not implicated in potential violations of international law.  

[1] European Commission. (2021, 14 septembre). Guidance note - Potential misuse of research (V2.0).

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/20212027/horizon/guidance/guidance-note-potential-misuse-of-research-results_he_en.pdf

[2] https://technionuk.org/news-post/ai-tool-predicts-rocket-fire-on-israel-finds-best-time-to-shower/ 

[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20031205022309/http:/pard.technion.ac.il/archives/presseng/Html/PR_d-9Eng_20_10.Html 

[4] Haaretz. (2024, March 3rd) . https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-03/ty-article-magazine/.premium/gaza-becomes-israels-testing-ground-for-remote-control-military-robots/0000018e-03ed-def2-a98e-cfff1e640000 

[5] https://euroteq.eurotech-universities.eu/about-us/partner-universities/

[6]https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2024.14

[7]https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-59835-7_17