The UK’s Data Protection Authority, the ICO Announce Their First Ever Technology Strategy

ICO Technology Strategy

The ICO has announced their first ever technology strategy covering what they see as their roadmap for 2018 to 2021.

The report supports their Information Rights Strategic Plan 2017- 2021 and their plans to

‘Stay relevant, provide excellent public service and keep abreast of evolving technology’ .

In this technology strategy report, they have identified three priority areas that they will focus on:

• Priority area #1: Cybersecurity
• Priority area #2: Artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning
• Priority area #3: Web and cross-device tracking

It will be interesting to see how well this strategy keeps pace with the private sector; especially considering the budgets that private organisations are allocating to these trends.

As always let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Reasons Why You Should Not Fear An AI Apocalypse

Will robots or AI ultimately overpower us? Before we look at that, as a starting point, it may be worth having a look at Issac Asimov’s take on that very question.

Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”

Anyone who has studied AI or robotics know of these laws.  They state that

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Now those that have seen or read, I, Robot know that these laws may not always protect us as intended.  The robots in the novel and the film through carrying these laws law to there fullest and logical intent look to subjugate mankind, to remove freedoms and free will, in order to protect us against well ourselves.

One reason this happens is that these laws do not put to the human being at the centre of them.  In fact, only in the third law does it mentions protection and that protection is afforded to the robot(s) in question.

So Asimov added another law to these, a zero law which states;

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.