FAQ

Can anyone certify me as an AI ethicist yet?

Not quite. EN 18274, the European standard for the competence of AI ethicists, is due to be formally published by CEN in September 2026, and certification bodies are already advertising ahead of it, but there is no confirmed accredited scheme you can actually sit yet. A sponsored listing is not an accredited certification. We track this on the standard page and date every change.

What is EN 18274?

The European standard setting out the competence requirements for professional AI ethicists, developed jointly by CEN and CENELEC (Joint Technical Committee 21, Artificial Intelligence) under mandate M/593. It defines the knowledge, skills, and attitudes the role requires, grounded in European values and fundamental rights.

Does the EU AI Act certify individuals?

No. Nobody gets certified in the EU AI Act. It is a binding regulation that creates obligations, including an AI literacy duty under Article 4, not a personal certification. A completion certificate from a training provider is not certification against the law.

Isn’t following the law enough?

No, and the standard itself agrees. Standards do not stop at knowledge and skills; EN 18274 adds a separate domain for attitudes, because a system can pass every legal and policy check and still be the wrong thing to ship. The law sets a floor. The job of an ethicist starts at the floor, not on it.

Isn’t this just AI governance with better branding?

No, and the three words mean different things. Ethics asks what is right. Governance builds the roles, processes, and evidence trails that make an answer to that question actually happen inside an organisation. Compliance is the legal floor underneath both. A company can have excellent governance and still be enforcing the wrong principle, or none at all: governance without ethics is just an efficient way to do the wrong thing on schedule. The published research has a name for the failure this creates: ethics washing, a set of principles adopted for reputational credit that cost nothing to break because nobody built the enforcement. That is the specific thing this register exists to catch.

What is ethics, actually?

Not a rulebook. It’s the discipline of working out what matters and how to justify a choice, not a checklist to tick. In practice, three or four respectable traditions can look at the exact same system and reach genuinely different, defensible answers, because they are weighing different things: outcomes, rights, character, or the community around the person affected. That is not one side being uninformed. It is why the standard has an Attitudes domain at all: knowing the frameworks is not the hard part, holding a position once you have picked one is.

Is “AI ethics” the same job as “AI ethicist”?

Not quite. AI ethics is the whole field: researchers, policymakers, engineers, business leaders, advocates, everyone working to make the technology more accountable. An AI ethicist is one role inside that field, the person who applies those ideas to one real decision, on a deadline, inside one organisation.

Are your ratings official?

No, and we are careful to say so. Our standings are our informed opinion, formed from public information, dated and versioned. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any standards body, any accreditation body, or any credential we describe. For anything that affects a decision, verify against the primary source, which we point you to.

How does Ethics Directive make money?

Employers, practitioners, and public grants pay the bills. We are funded entirely by the side these ratings protect, which is what lets us rate the other side, certification bodies, training providers, and credential owners, without a conflict of interest in the room. The full breakdown is on the methodology page.

Is the gap report a certification?

No. It is a private, free self-assessment, developed independently. It does not reproduce the standard, does not certify you, and does not predict whether you would pass a scheme. It is a mirror, not a mark.

Do you place people in jobs?

Not directly. Placement is run by Sentient Staff, a separate talent partner. Ethics Directive rates and assesses; it does not sell placement. That separation is deliberate, and it is what lets either be trusted.

Do you advise organisations directly?

Not directly. The organisational work is run by Virtue & Voltage, a separate partner. Ethics Directive rates and assesses; it does not sell advisory work. Same wall as with placement, for the same reason.

I’m new to this. Where do I start?

With the free things, in order. We keep a staged path on Where to start: grounding courses that cost nothing, the gap report, evidence before certificates, and only then the map. The expensive step comes last, on purpose.

I’ve done this work for years. What’s here for me?

The practice shelf: the one-page artifacts the job runs on, plus the honest read on what a certificate adds when you already have the experience.

How do I find something specific?

Press / anywhere on the site, or use Search in the menu. It looks across the map, the statute, and every page at once, and takes you straight to the entry rather than a list of links.

Can I compare credentials side by side?

Yes. On the map, tap the + on up to three rows and a compare bar appears. You get our standing, the cost, the gate, and our read for each, in one table.

What is the State of the AI Ethicist?

Our annual report on the profession, built only from aggregated, opted-in gap report answers. No individual answer is ever published, and no cut appears unless at least thirty people sit inside it. The methodology, and an honest count, live on its own page.

The map or statute looks out of date. What now?

Tell us. Regulatory and accreditation status changes fast, we date every entry, and we would rather be corrected in public than be quietly wrong.

How do I reach an actual person here?

Three doors, depending on what you need. tellus@ethicsdirective.org for corrections, tips, and anything on the map or statute that looks wrong. hello@ethicsdirective.org for everything else, press included. privacy@ethicsdirective.org for anything about your data specifically. All three reach a person, not a ticketing system.