Technology Policy

We are poised to enter perhaps the most consequential decade in the history of humankind. The potential of innovative technologies for good or ill, unfolding within an acceleratingly interconnected yet diverging world that is undergoing dramatic climate and social changes, means that governance and policy decisions made today have outsized ramifications across every sphere of future human activity.

So-called “disruptive technologies,” such as machine learning and other forms of autonomous and generative artificial intelligence (AI), are upending not only long-standing societal structures – such as manufacturing, financial markets, work and family life – but also democratic governance and even our understanding of what it means to be human. The “business as usual” forms of reactive regulation and policymaking may be too slow, too uncertain and are often too monolingual to adequately address the challenges presented by the catalytic convergence of the three great destabilizers of our time: technological innovation, climate change and escalating social inequality. The picture is even more multi-layered because technology crosses national borders, further complicating regulatory matters.

The complexity of the challenge necessitates engaging multiple disciplines, multiple sectors, and multiple aligned and intersecting methodologies in true transdisciplinary collaboration.  

Chair: Maaz Gardezi, Assistant Professor of Sociology

The Governance of New and Emerging Technologies Virtual Symposium was held on Thursday, April 6, 2023. Click here to view the symposium white paper report.