Avoiding Harm in Technology Innovation

Advances in science and technology promise to solve some of the world’s most vexing problems, create new markets, and fuel economic growth. At the same time, they often raise ethical questions, and their deployment may lead to unanticipated adverse consequences that many companies are ill-equipped to identify or address.

For example, technology that enables the editing of human DNA is leading to new medical treatments, but the practice is also rife with unintended consequences. In 2018, an ambitious researcher in China ignored both the norms of the field and the law and altered human embryos’ genetic material in an effort to confer resistance to HIV. The changes he made to the embryos’ genes may be passed down to future generations, and their effects on human development are unknown.1

Failure to fully consider possible outcomes when deciding whether and how to develop any technology can lead to negative consequences for companies, customers, and other stakeholders. In a 2024 case involving an AI chatbot, Air Canada’s enthusiasm for automated customer service ran ahead of its understanding of the significant limitations of generative AI when it comes to accuracy of output. It fielded a chatbot that misrepresented company policy on bereavement rates in response to a customer inquiry and then denied the customer reimbursement because they did not follow the policy, refusing to take responsibility for providing bad information. When the customer sued and won, the headlines did little to burnish Air Canada’s reputation for customer service.

When considering new developments that are truly at the forefront of applied science and technology, innovators are usually well ahead of regulations that might provide guardrails around commercialization decisions.