“Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchains and Metaverse and Law” was the title of a session within the annual World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2023.
The annual World Summit on the Information Society Forum is a global multistakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing sustainable development, organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD. It provides an opportunity for information exchange, knowledge creation and sharing of best practices, while identifying emerging trends and fostering partnerships, taking into account the evolving Information and Knowledge Societies. The forum was held in March 2023 at the International Conference Centre Geneva, while virtual sessions continued in April and May.
The workshop I participated in as a speaker aimed to explore some of the emerging developments and trends in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchains and Metaverse and new emerging legal, business, societal and governance related challenges and issues that have already emerged and are likely to arise in the coming times. “Data Ethics: Building trust. How Digital Technologies Can Serve Humanity” tries to answer such questions, with 45 articles from four continents (650 pages, free download: www.globethics.net/data-ethics).
How can we deal with the enormous speed of development in the world? Mental problems of millions of people will increase through this insecurity of switching between virtual and real worlds, is one assumption, accompanied by the observation that due to the insecurity people tend to vote for autocratic regimes, seemingly providing stability in uncertainty.
As for the economy, the explosion of new technologies have to be regulated and brought into an economic and political frame that can slow down some development. As for the personal use of technology, an island of tech free space can be helpful and healthy; a certain time without the constant use of technology to refocus. Apart from regulatory needs a political and democratic debate about how to deal with the insecurity is needed.
Awareness to distinguish between true and false prophets is needed. In each century false prophets promised heaven on earth, so a clear understanding is needed that not every new technology brings us a better life. All technologies have two sides, they can serve humans for a better life and can help nature to better conserve it, and they do harm and destroy life. New technologies like data-based AI polarize, because fears and hopes are both exaggerated until we have experienced and regulated them. Values-driven technologies and AI ethics are therefore urgent.