Technology

Policy makers tend to push for “precision” digital technologies, in particular robots, drones and sensors, to address the challenges in biodiversity, the environment and even climate change. The dangerous drawback is, by minimizing human judgment, traditional knowledge and lived experiences, these technology systems tend to undermine people’s ability to nurture ecosystems.

On June 15, a webinar held jointly by the Hong Kong office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of leading research universities in 19 economies of the Pacific Rim, highlighted the complexity of data rights for citizens and users, with risks deriving from both under-regulation and over-regulation of AI applications.

What are the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on human labour and the environment? How do legislative proposals for regulating AI in Europe and Brazil respond to these impacts beyond discussions on surveillance and automated decision-making bias?

The ETC group reviews the process of technology assessment (TA) – an inclusive corrective to policymaking on new and emerging technologies. It involves people’s informed views on long-term common good, to replace top-down and opaque decision-making processes by power players.