Table 1.

Comparative overview of ethical theories applied to AI contexts.

Feature	Utilitarianism	Deontology	Virtue ethics	References
Focus	Consequences of actions	Duties and rules	Character of the moral agent	Bentham (1789)
Key Principle	Greatest happiness principle	Categorical imperative	Cultivation of virtues	O'Neill (1989)
Notable Philosophers	Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill	Immanuel Kant	Aristotle, Elizabeth Anscombe	Hursthouse et al. (2018)
Strengths	Practical in policy-making	Clear moral guidelines	Emphasizes moral development	Buchanan et al. (2000)
Weaknesses	Can justify harmful actions	Rigid; may lead to moral dilemmas	Challenges in universal application	Berg (2020)