Technology has been the engine room that powers society, the economy and government for decades. But the past few years have witnessed an explosion in digital advances driving consumer and enterprise innovation that will transform the way we all live and work.
The creation and dominance of hyper-scale platforms, combined with technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, additive manufacturing and 5G communications, are driving an ever more seamless integration between technology and humanity, bringing disruption to organisations large and small, public and private.
The Intelligence Network has set out to anticipate the consequences of these profound shifts. At a recent roundtable event, in partnership with RUSI, we brought together some of the world’s leading experts in this field to analyse these systemic changes via six key lenses.
Hidden complexity: With the democratisation of these technologies, what are the inherent risks in hiding complexity from users and how do we protect against them?
Enabling bad things: How do we best understand the malevolent unintended uses of technology and how do we guard against them?
The human impact: When it comes to the introduction of automation, ML and AI, what are the risks to individuals and workers and how best to protect them?
Economic side-effects: What are the economic risks, how do we mitigate them and focus on maximising the economic benefit?
Global power: What are the risks and implications for global power structures? Are globalisation and the rise of China and India heralding change?
Navigating to benefit: Are there any overarching elements that can help governments tip the balance in favour of the benefit for business and society whilst minimising the risk?
Governments find it hard to change their course. They are there to respond, requiring time to do so, but the challenge is that emerging technology doesn’t wait. It’s highly likely that emerging technology will play a large part in the solution to many of today’s problems such as climate change. We see political recognition of this with examples like the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) recently announced by the UKs Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, with £800M of funding attached. But as emerging technology starts to deliver for society, it will do so with unintended consequences – and it’s these which are difficult to control and predict. As well as ensuring their country doesn’t fall behind in the technological revolution, the additional challenge for our elected leaders is to ensure they also navigate this change safely.
But it’s not just about government. Civil society has a role to play as the answers to these challenges are not going to be found in one place; it will need that full spectrum of different perspectives to be brought together, including the pro and anti-technology minds, in order to have a proper argument to prevent conversations simply occurring in echo chambers.
For more insight from the roundtable, the full report is available for download below.
Learn more about our work around Emerging Technology and Risks.
At a roundtable event, in partnership with RUSI, we brought together some of the world’s leading experts in this field to analyse these systemic changes via six key lenses – hidden complexity, enabling bad things, the human impact, economic side-effects, global power and navigating to benefit.
Charles Newhouse, Director of Consulting, BAE Systems
Charles is Applied Intelligence’s Director of Consulting. He is an experienced operational and technical leader with a strong background in developing strategy, developing teams and managing £mm budgets. He has a proven record of accomplishment, providing operationally pragmatic technology solutions to complex ambiguous business challenges. His engineering and systems background allows him to operate in complex environments, providing the interchange simplifying, contextualising and communicating challenges and opportunities for a business audience.