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If you’re not focused on tech ethics yet, you will be soon. After a year of worrying headlines — from Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica affair to the first pedestrian death from a self-driving car to the exposure of secret military bases via open data — we’re starting to put the pieces together. Suddenly, everyone cares about tech ethics.
Luminary Labs CEO Sara Holoubek recently kicked off All Tech is Human’s Summit on Ethical Tech with a talk on what tech can learn from health. The event brought together people who are actively — but sometimes separately — working toward more a more ethical approach to tech development. Here are a few of Sara’s takeaways from the summit.
The movement is growing.
This inaugural summit was on a Saturday morning, and the room was packed. (You know a topic has traction if a weekend business event is standing room only.) Speakers and attendees, including Yoav Schlesinger, Douglas Rushkoff, Kathy Pham, John C. Havens, flew in from around the globe to share their takes on how tech should move forward.
Tech ethics is more than just tech — and it’s beyond the Bay Area.
A lot of people asked, “why isn't this happening Silicon Valley?” Good question. It could have, and should have, long ago. As John Battelle has noted in Newco Shift, New York is a place where many people “want to find connection points to culture, to social issues, to politics, to ideas, and to the rest of the world.” An event outside Silicon Valley acknowledges that the issue of tech ethics is about more than the tech industry — it’s about humans and organizations in every sector.
We need to rethink entire business models.
We’re just beginning to hear people admit that the concept of “growth hacking” directly contributes to our current problems. Wall Street still measures tech companies like Twitter and Facebook on user growth, regardless of whether their earnings are strong or weak. When companies prioritize growth of users, clicks, or likes, they are more likely to design technology in a way that is not in the best interest of humanity. Insider accounts are telling the story behind the growth numbers. Former Uber employee Susan Fowler has given an unsettling description of Uber’s business model: “Laughing, they compared the drivers to animals: ‘You need to dangle the carrot right in front of their face.’”
We’re moving from concept to action.
Some of tech’s largest companies are hiring chief ethics officers, and employees are asking tough questions about the products they’re building. Establishing a code of ethics isn’t easy, but many communities are starting by taking oaths and pledges, including asking candidates about their ethical frameworks. And better yet, candidates are asking companies about the organization's ethical frameworks during the interview process. Expertise is ramping up in academia as well as public and private sectors. We have officially moved from talking about the problem to operationalizing ethics in organizations.
Photo courtesy of David Ryan Polgar and All Tech is Human.
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