What Does Responsible Tech Mean To Greater Manchester?
The conversation surrounding ethical tech is scaling. Yet, despite the increasing press noise — not a day goes by without Facebook’s platform, Google senior management or Amazon’s business practises being hauled over the coals — a nuanced understanding of the wider-reaching consequences of technology is only just emerging.
This, despite over two decades of the technology boom overhauling how we access information, connect with others and fundamentally behave as human beings. Yet, by and large, we’re still none the wiser as to how to leverage it in the best interests of humanity.
In the meantime, the impact of tech on people’s lives, the communities we live amongst and the societies we all co-exist within marches on. As digital, technology and the rapidly advancing capabilities around artificial intelligence filter into every area of our lives, we best get our heads screwed on, and sharpish.
Why responsible tech?
Beyond the day-to-day digitalisation of our lives, issues such as digital electioneering (e.g. Cambridge Analytica data being sold to Leave campaigns for Brexit), online safety and security (e.g. Molly Russell’s suicide influenced by Instagram algorithms) and social engineering (e.g. Burma’s military inciting genocide via Facebook) are now wholly evident.
Yet, consultation has barely moved beyond the think tanks and a smattering of concerned policymakers globally who are heeding the media’s calls to examine and adapt how we create and use technology. While regulation is slowly starting to assert itself — GDPR mandating how data is captured, stored and used across Europe for example — the pace of change and innovation across industry requires a more holistic approach.
An approach which includes those organisations who hold the power, and are directly using people’s information to design, develop and capitalise on the use of technology. At The Federation — where ethics and digital intersect to explore the potential of people-powered social and tech solutions — its why we asked our region’s businesses what responsible tech means to them.
As the U.K’s second-largest UK tech hub, Greater Manchester’s progressive social history and rapidly growing digital scene offers a unique context in which to examine the issues we now face. As the home of the suffragettes, the co-operative movement, first modern computer and birthplace of the industrial revolution, our region’s businesses had plenty to say about the opportunities and consequences of industrial revolution 4.0…
What is responsible tech?
Beyond civic tech and tech for good — where the social sectors leverage technology to improve the scale, efficiencies and impact of solutions which address social challenges — for organisations like the Co-op, BBC, UKFast and Department for Education, the discussion surrounding responsible tech centred on four key areas.
While access and accessibility (referring to the means to use and the skills and capabilities to benefit from using tech) were raised, for those gathered, responsible tech primarily concerns how organisational behaviours and assets within the direct influence of the business are used. Therefore, the use of data and information (e.g. consumer privacy), design and development (e.g. AI displacing jobs) plus diversity and inclusion (e.g. 20% female talent in the U.K. tech industry) were all causes for concern.
Yet, encouraging businesses to examine their impact beyond just the industries and sectors they traditionally operate within can be challenging. The classic argument — that a businesses purpose is to create profit and nothing else — was raised, so understanding why responsible tech might be relevant to these organisations was key.
Why Industry?
Unsurprisingly given the media cacophony surrounding the actions of tech businesses, PR and brand perceptions topped the list. Consumer concerns and the demands of tech talent — seen in Amazon’s employees lobbying its board to up its social and environmental action plus the ongoing Google walkouts globally — were also flagged.
Recognition was given to the potential negative consequences of tech at a global level was balanced with calls for balanced thinking surrounding the positive social impact tech can have, and though energy was shown for investing in and scaling tech-for-good solutions at a local level, less understanding was shown for the local impact of tech.
With Manchester already struggling with high levels of poverty — the city ranking significantly higher than the national average in terms of poverty — and acute issues surrounding homelessness, the lack of affordable housing across the city region requires Greater Manchester learn important lessons from Silicon Valley and the gentrification of San Franciso
With technology often designed and developed in the abstract, with little consideration for stakeholders beyond the data obtained for its immediate users and more often than not designed by a privileged sub-section fo society, connecting the dots between the tech our region is creating and its impact on local employees and consumers is yet to be realised.
Why Greater Manchester?
Given the “move fast and break things” culture surrounding tech, its disconnect from the people it relies on to be both used and created isn’t unexpected. Yet, the global values underpinning the industry — of venture capital, astronomic IPOs, exponential growth and a zero-sum mentality — jar with the culture of a region built on people-powered movements with equity at its heart.
Its what made the honesty in the room so compelling. While awareness of the options to enable responsible tech was high — digital literacy support available through the third sector, bias training, ethical toolkits to guide design & development and guidance on data best practise all recognised — it was recognition of whether businesses cared about their broader impact that was key.
As much as fear and shame — of being caught out and suffering (more often than not) the financial consequences of causing harm to people, communities and society — played a part, how much the private sector values people (and a broader sense of purpose) over profit is the key challenge, and until this is recognised and addressed, encouraging ethical tech practice will laboured and slow.
Why People?
Yet, those gathered showed ambition. An appetite for better understanding of the ethical issues underpinning responsible tech, and energy for working collectively. When it came to access and ability, the opportunity to scale coding club availability across the region, and engage Manchester’s prolific tech meetup community was posited as a potential solution.
Whilst volunteering from within the industry, plus investment from the private and public sector recognised in both digital skills and alternative approaches — both tech-for-good initiatives and socially-conscious business models were floated as areas ripe for support — it was the focus on empowering people that held the most promise.
Whether supporting people within organisations to influence decision-making around responsible tech or taking inspiration from citizen assemblies to influence regional investment on tech growth and practise, using such platforms to enable more open design practice or cross-organisational processes surrounding data were all suggested.
Such open and honest conversations around responsible tech offer strong potential, not just for better understanding and more focused action, but innovation too. Given the ambition in the room, bringing the humanity home to tech is wholly within Greater Manchester’s ability.
At The Federation, our next steps are to bring the region’s tech ecosystem together to explore potential, co-create a cross-sector response and undertake research to understand the strategic challenges and opportunities of engaging in responsible tech. Join us?
