You've got an 'ology - 4 tech debates we need more of in 2020

‘You’ve got an ology’ as Maureen Lipman said in the 1980s BT advert. The idea being that an ology could take you far. We seem to have a bit of the same approach with technology today.

2019 has been a great year for putting AI ethics and tech for good on the map. But are we too focussed on the idea of it, rather than what it means in practice?

These are the 4 things I’d like to see more of in the tech debate for the year ahead:

1.    Context – if we don’t want tech to be just about the ‘ology’ we need more discussion about the context in which it is being developed. Our economy and work are being transformed, but this is not our first industrial revolution. If we just focus on products and applications we risk losing sight of how our economic model is changing and the challenges that creates for people, place and communities. The Institute For the Future of Work has picked up the issue of place in its work - see more here. But also hats off to Shoshana Zuboff and Carl Benedict Frey for their heavyweight interventions on this issue.

2.    Good work – We need a more embracing vision about the future and where we fit into it, especially if we want to make this a shared story. Matthew Taylor has been a leader on the idea of good work in the gig economy. This blog is a good example of the RSA's work on economic insecurity and good work. But much more attention is needed. Most people think change will happen to them, not with them. Prospect commissioned research from YouGov in 2019 showed 58 per cent of workers thought they would not be consulted about any technology changes being introduced at work (more in this blog). We need to address that. And it needs to be about more than skills. Christina and the team at Uni Global Union have developed some important thinking around this - see here. The Fabian Society is also doing some good work here in its Commission on Workers and Technology.

3.    Discrimination – 2019 has seen some amazing work on bias and discrimination, in particular by groups like Women Leading in AI. See more on their work on their Principles for Responsible AI via this link. This goes to the heart of trust, transparency and the human and commercial decisions behind how tech is used. Facial recognition technology was in the firing line this year, but there is so much more to discover about bias, discrimination and how it affects us as workers and citizens.

4.    Who decides? – AI ethics exploded like confetti in 2019. But who made the decisions? We need more citizen and worker involvement, alongside other stakeholders. For me, that means unions and communities.There is more from me in this blog for TechUK at this link and this from the New Statesman Tech blog here.

It has been energising watching the growth in DIY tech worker activism over the last year from Google workers speaking out about conditions in Big Tech to union campaigns against the human reality for workers in Amazon warehouses. Activism is lighting up new stars of resistance and change against the joint challenges of big tech and tech driven commercialism. Nowhere do these stars shine brightly than around the amazing team at the AI Now Institute - long may they provide a bright reminder that change is possible and it is coming.

Trade unions have not always been at the forefront of shaping these challenges - but we are getting there. The work of my colleagues and our members at Prospect and Bectu bring practical worker voices to discussions that can sometime seem far off. The TUC now has policy on workers voice and new technology (see here). Union friends in the GMB have done amazing work with global union friends about worker abuses at Amazon. We are developing new worker tech solutions to help level the playing field over data and information, along with friends in Uni Global Union Young Workers' Lab and with inspiring colleagues in unions such as Unionen and the TCO in Sweden.

It has been a brilliant year listening, discussing, meeting and sharing ideas with so many of you on here about how we get tech right for prosperity, society and workers.

Thank you for your advice, ideas and friendship.

Let’s make a difference in the year ahead.