Navigating the Ethical Landscape of Innovation: Predictions for Responsible Innovation in 2024

By Reggie Townsend, Vice President of SAS Data Ethics Practice

In the ever-evolving realm of technology, the year 2024 promises to be a pivotal one for responsible innovation. As we gaze into the future,  let us look at some of the emerging trends and predictions that will shape the landscape of ethical innovation.

Looking ahead, I think we’ll continue to see governments wrestle with how best to regulate and put legal regimes in place that safeguard citizens while allowing innovation. But it will still be a struggle because of the fast-moving nature of the technology. We’re hearing an increasing number of governments make statements that align with each other, and we should see regulation coalescing around certain principles like human-centricity.

Even if it takes time to settle on the exact wording of laws, governments will likely use the leverage they have through their vast purchasing power to set de facto standards and expectations for ethical behavior.

I also think we’ll see a growing number of non-technical roles weigh in on the AI conversation. It needs to be more than just technologists setting the agenda when there are implications for justice, well-being and equity. We need non-technical domain experts to consider those implications and uncover risks and opportunities.

We should see increased sophistication in how we measure and monitor the performance of AI, and how we are tracking towards responsible AI goals. We need to know if a model overstepped or under-performed. For example, SAS is working on model cards that will help our customers do this sort of analysis.

As we embark on this journey into 2024, the imperative for responsible innovation has never been more pronounced.