The University of Minnesota Morris Competitive Ethics team of Roy Humlicek-Spindler ’24, New Hope; William Marsan ’25, Eden Prairie; Muthu Meenakshisundaram ’26, Eden Prairie; and Jayson Weber ’24, Morris, competed in the 2024 International Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC), held April 17-19 at the University of Massachusetts Mount Ida in Newton, Mass.
The UMN Morris team competed against other top undergraduate teams in three categories: full presentation, 10-minute presentation, and 90-second presentation. Although this was the first time UMN Morris competed at the IBECC, they placed in two of the three competitions for their division, winning runner up for their 10-minute presentation and first place for their 90-second presentation.
Teams invited to the IBECC select their own case for presentation and students assume the role of ethics consultants, advising a firm on how to navigate some ethical challenge they face.
UMN Morris prepared a case titled, “Marriage For All: Scaling Up Keeper’s AI Matchmaking For a Diverse and Lonely World.” The UMN Morris team discussed the new matchmaking firm, Keeper, which uses AI to help match clients. The team was intrigued by Keeper's mission, which is focused on finding clients not just dates, but marriage partners. Right now Keeper caters to a small, affluent client base, but its mission is to "End human loneliness by giving everyone the opportunity to start a happy, healthy family." What sort of ethical issues arise for Keeper as it scales up for the mass market? The team discussed issues raised by Keeper's messaging around inclusivity, algorithm fairness, and pricing.