The summer close marked the end of my very first technology internship, in which I was finally able to get industry experience and work on engaging projects. This first look into the corporate technology world was absolutely eye-opening. In fact, I could write many columns about the specific projects I worked on, and what I’ve learned so far from working in the tech industry. But in an effort to leave internship experiences up to your interpretation, I’ve decided to take a different route and talk about ethical issues facing technology, which I was inspired to write about due to the large emphasis on ethical innovation in the company I worked for and other companies across the country.
In a world that revolves entirely around technology, it’s important to think about the implications of our technology, and how its reinvention can affect people in the future. This foresight can come in many forms. Whether it be brainstorming how tech can affect different demographics including nonmarginalized and marginalized people, or researching the effects of a start-up acquisition by a technology behemoth, all topics about the implications of technology are cast under a net of ethical concerns of technology.
There are countless ethical concerns that are important to address, but the three most imminent concerns are: the integration of artificial intelligence into society, the severe misuse of consumer data, and the monopolization of technology. These three topics fall into very different categories of technology; artificial intelligence relates to innovative technology, data misuse falls under consumer’s interaction with technology, and monopolies relate to business and antitrust issues with technology. Often, the lines between these issues often overlap because of the interconnectedness of technology. The goal of these next columns will be to explore these topics in-depth and provide high-level overviews of these problems.
Companies and researchers have spent an enormous amount of time (and money) analyzing these issues to try and come up with feasible solutions. And yet, these topics are still pressing issues with seemingly unsolvable dilemmas. Essentially, the sustainability of these issues boils down to two reasons: misinformation and unaccountability.
While it’s hard to believe that many people are misinformed about technology because of its noticeable global prevalence, these people are ignorant of its societal effects. More importantly, many people are ignorant of technology’s effects on themselves. This ignorance is what enables large technology companies to often take advantage of consumers, collect customer data, and use that data to their own interests. Additionally, regular consumers are quick to back innovation without thinking about its effects. But on the flip side, it’s hard to blame consumers for willingly accepting technology without being a cynic. It’s difficult to refuse the convenience provided by tech companies, for seemingly small prices like privacy.
The other issue lies in tech companies not taking responsibility for their actions. They are quick to find loopholes and are often unthreatened by legal fees and battles. In all honesty, who can blame them? Their goal is to produce scalable innovation as fast as possible, and this often requires dancing around regulatory practices. In sum, their intentions are (relatively) good, but the path they follow to get there can raise questions.
However, in recent years, many regulatory organizations and academic groups have taken notice of these common practices: Congress has recently become more cognizant of anticompetitive practices by technology firms, the government has enforced more stringent data regulation rules, and ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence are being studied by researchers. While the journey of technology regulation is an uphill battle, the trajectory of supervision has been trending in a positive direction.
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