Event blog: How will artificial intelligence transform the world of work?

Southampton Business School teamed up with the University of Southampton Web Science Institute to host a thought-provoking day focusing on what companies and organisations ought to know about technological developments such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Delegates from leading regional companies gained insights into the opportunities and threats from leading experts including Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the web Science Institute at the University of Southampton and Doc Searls, Editor in Chief at Linux Journal.

Following the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal and internet banking problems at the TSB, technology, many people are uneasy about the future. “The more I know, the less I understand,” said one business leader in the audience and others feared sleepwalking into corporate control.

Issues raised included increasing use of AI in media and advertising, how to make algorithms accountable and how to run a business when regulations such as GDPR are enforced.

“In technology, what can be done will be done,” warned Doc Searls. “It is now easy to spy on people and the world has failed to invent protocols that would have given us privacy.”