Ethics play a key role
While many tech standards efforts are focused on interoperability, stewards of technologies like AI and brain-computer interfaces that are pushing the boundaries of human-machine interaction have a more pressing set of concerns, said Brad Shimin, principal analyst for AI and data analytics at Omdia. China’s new committee and groups like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) aiming to articulate these emerging standards will need to put ethical and safety considerations at the forefront of their agendas, he said.
“These organizations will have the difficult task of providing ethical guidance, offering a sustainable foundation on which innovators can build solutions, and imposing constraints on research and experimentation,” Simin said. “Such efforts will help accelerate innovation while also ensuring that funded research is aligned with the current socio-political expectations of host countries.”
Despite standards bodies like IEEE, the U.S. has historically encouraged aggressive research and experimentation of new technologies, but only to a point, Shimin noted. In the U.S., for example, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink is currently conducting human trials of a chip that is surgically implanted in the brain, but problems arose this week when a second patient who was due to receive the chip withdrew for medical reasons. But as such experiments proceed, organizations such as the National Institutes of Health will continue to work with lawmakers to intervene to limit potentially dangerous research, Shimin said.
