A new toolkit aims to help developers future-proof technology by anticipating the potential consequences and recommending ethical solutions.
The Ethical OS Toolkit was developed by the Institute for the Future and Omidyar Network, and aims to future-proof technology against unethical uses. It bears the subtitle ‘How not to regret the things you will build’, and serves as a guide to implementing ethical solutions to a wide variety of potential misuses of technology in order to anticipate and prevent them.
What kind of advice does the toolkit provide?
The toolkit includes a checklist of eight ‘risk zones’, which represent areas where unintended consequences might emerge and effect major social changes. Developers can use to future-proof technology against these potential unethical activities, and take the opportunity to think not only about the benefits of their products, but the potential negative outcomes.
The risk factors that the toolkit addresses include:
- Truth, disinformation and propaganda
- Machine ethics and algorithmic biases
- The surveillance state
- Data control and monetisation
- Hateful and criminal actors
In addition to assessing these risk factors, the Ethical OS Toolkit evaluates design and business model options which can be employed to actively safeguard users, communities, companies and society as a whole, to determine which are the most effective in any given scenario.
What impact will the toolkit have on technology developers?
According to Cody Simms, a partner at global start-up accelerator Techstars, the toolkit could be critical to the success of small and medium-sized technology companies that are developing new products.
He explained: “At Techstars, we are building a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Helping founders anticipate future ethical challenges that their technologies could encounter or incite is critical to their ultimate success. We’re thrilled to be working with Omidyar Network and the Institute for the Future on this initiative and to help our global network of more than 1,500 startups get ahead of problems before they happen.”
