Algorithms and Rights+

As companies and governments increasingly deploy algorithmic and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, concerns are growing about how AI will interact with social and human rights. Societies will implement new laws and regulations to protect these rights, though their goals, rigor, and effectiveness will vary from place to place.

Anticipatory Intelligence

Big data, data analytics, and artificial intelligence are enabling predictive analytics used to anticipate needs, opportunities, and threats in an organization’s environment. The market for predictive analytics is growing rapidly, and major computing companies are key players. Organizations view predictive analytics as one of the most important ways to leverage big data.

Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain technology uses a distributed digital ledger to record data, contracts, and transaction (financial and otherwise) without the need for third-party validation. While bitcoin was the first proof-of-concept for the efficacy of blockchains, blockchains have applications beyond virtual currencies. By embedding trust in the algorithms of the blockchain, blockchains can enable trustless transactions and data exchanges, eliminating the need for supervision by intermediaries or government authorities.

Ethical Edge of Innovation+

Rapid technological innovation, encompassing fields such as biotechnology, quantum computing, and renewable energy, is outpacing the legal and regulatory frameworks intended to protect public safety, promote economic growth, and foster social wellbeing. This leaves lawmakers struggling to keep up with the pace of change. Growing public pressure to mitigate the negative impacts of new technologies is prompting regulators to intervene more actively to shape technology adoption.

Fraying Cybersecurity

Risks to digital infrastructures are growing, even as dependence on them rises and more of everyday life is conducted via a digital layer. The workforce is both worried and harried—concerned about digital privacy and security in the workplace, and tired of the difficulty and complexity of maintaining system security. Associations face the same risks as other organizations but also have opportunities to support their members in new ways.

Marketing and Advertising Transformation

Advertisers and marketers are exploring innovative ways to connect with the public. Online advertising is growing, but concern is rising about vulnerabilities to abuse for other purposes, including fraud, as well as whether the model is even effective. Meanwhile, innovations in marketing and advertising are reshaping practices and assumptions by blurring the lines between marketing, entertainment, advertising, and content.

Personalized Artificial Intelligence

Rapid advancements in machine learning, combined with data analysis, are enabling software to develop increasingly accurate pictures of consumers’ lives and preferences. This technology supports personalized microtargeting and allows organizations to offload customer service tasks to chatbots and other interfaces. As a result, individuals may interact more and more with software that seems to know and understand them, sometimes better than their friends do.

Preventing AI Harms and Risks* 

Societies and industries will be challenged by artificial intelligence’s potential to introduce risks and harms. The list of immediate and potential problems is expanding rapidly (e.g., misinformation, disinformation, discrimination, and job loss). Regulation of AI systems is beginning worldwide but governments will struggle to keep pace with the technology. Associations will need to confront and address potential harms to protect themselves, their members, and society.

Taming Big Tech

A handful of global consumer-technology platforms—Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, and their subsidiaries—increasingly shape entertainment, news, commerce, and personal interaction. The unprecedented (and growing) power and influence of these companies create a variety of challenges for governments and civil society, prompting governments around the world to act to rein in these companies.