Computing stands as the cornerstone of modern technological progress, holding immense promise to reshape society for the better. At its essence, it provides a robust framework for problem-solving, automation, and groundbreaking innovation, capable of tackling humanity’s most urgent issues. Whether it’s bolstering healthcare with predictive analytics and tailored treatment strategies or combatting environmental threats through data-driven sustainability initiatives, computing uses transformative power across a spectrum of societal challenges. CCC Council Chair Daniel Lopresti said computing research is important because there are risks that need to be considered. He points to innovations such as surveillance technologies which can be used to violate privacy.  In order to alleviate these risks, researchers need […]

The following blog post was written by CCC’s Addressing the Unforeseen Deleterious Impacts of Technology (AUDIT) Task Force This article is the second of two related blog posts on proactively addressing the unforeseen harms of technology. In the previous post, we discussed the importance of addressing the negative consequences of technology and the difference between genuinely unforeseen risks and those that could have been foreseen but remained unacted upon. In this article, we will discuss the importance of proactively designing technology to reduce the potential for both foreseen and unforeseen negative consequences. Mitigating risks in the design phase is a common tenet of software engineering. A 2002 report from the […]

The following blog post was written by CCC’s Addressing the Unforeseen Deleterious Impacts of Technology (AUDIT) Task Force Computing technologies of all stripes have brought enormous benefits to people’s lives, but also significant individual and societal harms. As these technologies become increasingly ubiquitous and powerful, we should expect the potential benefits and harms to grow as well. These shifts raise crucial questions about the foreseeability of impacts of the work of computing researchers and developers, as it is much easier to promote benefits and mitigate harms when they can be anticipated. We can ensure wide access (if beneficial), establish guardrails (if problematic), and much more, but only if we actually […]