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data ethics interview

How data ethicists are helping tech business be better

  • min read
    • Using data responsibly is a hot topic. Tech companies must ensure they don't cause harm, for example, by breaching consumer privacy or reinforcing bias through automated decisions. It's a moral and legal question, but it may be unclear how businesses and governments should approach their data responsibilities despite increased regulation. We still see egregious data use practice. Alice Thwaite is technology ethicist and responsible owner for ethics at OmniGOV, MG OMD, working with the UK government on communications and advertising. We chat about what data ethics means in practice. Gemma: What does it mean to be a data ethicist today? Alice: Ethics is the study of how to live. An ethicist takes a theory of how humans want to be treated and how we should interact with the wider world, and thinks about how an action or technology could contribute to that goal. We use ethical methodologies and knowledge about the consequences of a technology or business model to transform the business into one that prioritizes ethics. Businesses have always operated in the realm of ethics, but usually without a systematic approach. Ethicists co-create frameworks with stakeholders like customers, colleagues and wider society so that an organization's values become critical in business decisions. What does that look like in practice? First, we help organizations understand where they're making ethical decisions and show how they'll need a more systematic process to reach their ethical goals. Second, we educate organizations on ethical methodology and issues. Third, we assess practice to understand what the company wants to prioritize and how current practice meets ethical goals, making suggestions like 'ethical pilots.' Finally, we implement and measure ethical pilots so they can become policy. We don't work in a vacuum – we must be in constant contact with various communities. For example, before establishing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, a company might think racial equality is important but have no roadmap to get there. With an influence campaign, education, auditing and an implementation program, they may still have a way to go. But they're now measuring ethnicity pay gap and thinking about inclusive work environments for different people. They can keep following the 'influence, educate, assess, implement' process to fruition. Where do organizations start? What tips do you have for those keen to start doing ethics? Hire someone to build an ethical program and link them with a sponsor who can ensure the organization implements their recommendations. They may have a degree in philosophy, international relations, social science or community work experience. Ensure they can learn as much as possible about business ethics and support their attempts to transform the culture. Those in data security or compliance should recognize an ethicist has different processes. The goals may be similar, but the process aligns more with social science and humanities methods. What questions should organizations wanting a data ethicist ask? Are we committed to change? Do we want a world prioritizing human values like democracy, dignity and freedom? Are we prepared for the discomfort that comes with changing procedures? If you're prepared to change, write a job description incorporating things I've mentioned and encourage your team members to apply. Opinions reflect those of the expert. Interview edited for clarity.
green tech improving business

Six ways green tech can benefit your business

  • min read
    • Two-thirds of customers place importance on a brand's sustainable or eco-friendly image. Buoyed by this growing consumer awareness, business investment in becoming more sustainable is at record highs. Staff are concerned too – 97 percent of executives say their company has been negatively affected by climate change. IT and enterprise leaders must get involved in this new age of corporate social responsibility (CSR.) But these new environmentally conscious ways of doing business can benefit your company in other ways. Here are six ways green tech is improving business while reducing its environmental footprint. 1.   Saving on energy bills Oxford Economics says data-driven tools like smart meters, smart plugs and self-regulating energy systems can cut energy costs by up to 5 percent. It may not sound like much, but will add up to billions by 2030, with the biggest savings likely in small-to-medium businesses. These smart solutions are an easy way for businesses to predict better, optimize and conserve energy, meaning cost savings while reducing climate impacts of energy production, which across the world, is still mostly done by burning fossil fuels. 2.   Gaining more organizational insight These smart devices don't just help save energy and resources. They give businesses improved insight into process efficiencies. There's been huge uptake of 'internet of things' (IoT) devices in industry and manufacturing, largely driven by their ability to predict maintenance needs, maximize productivity and reduce factory downtime. Over 55 billion devices will be connected and talking to one another by 2025, according to market researcher IDC. One example is modular house-building factories –robots are better than humans at arranging patterns to get the most cuts from a piece of wood. 3.   Improving employees' working lives According to international consulting firm McKinsey, remote, digital, and hybrid technologies will define the future of work. Many employers are using online tools to book on-demand flexible office space, vehicles and virtual desktops, cutting resource consumption and travel-related greenhouse gas emissions. Employees relish more opportunity to work flexibly, widespread since the pandemic – whether working from home or across hours that better suit family life. Commuting is no small contributor to climate change. In the US, 75 percent use driving as their main means of getting to work. 4.   Saving on carbon costs With many countries operating internal carbon markets, reducing carbon emissions can, on its own, reduce operating expenses. These schemes require companies to buy carbon credits for emissions they produce, while those that create carbon sinks, like forestry, can make money by selling credits. Renewable energy microgrids are one way to cut carbon emissions. Other companies are replacing fossil fuel-powered vehicle fleets with electric and hybrid vehicles. These can also have health benefits for staff through reduced air pollution, vibration and noise. 5.   Reducing eWaste Our growing mountains of electronic waste are not easy or cheap to recycle, but practice is improving. Green tech can also help here, like using cloud-based file storage and backups, where multiple businesses share the same IT infrastructure. (This, in turn, makes strong, automated cloud security indispensable.) Virtual desktops also mean you needn't constantly equip and re-equip staff with dedicated laptops and PCs, meaning less waste to landfill. Choose your data center wisely for minimum environmental impact – they can use much electricity and water, and create a lot of heat. Doing your research will reveal the most low-impact options, like using data centers in countries where most electricity is generated renewably. 6.   Increasing productivity One UCLA study found employees at companies that voluntarily adopt high environmental standards were 16 percent more productive than peers at less eco-friendly organizations. Reasons might include distance learning, telecommuting and real-time collaboration tech. Artificially-intelligent software personalities and automated helpers may also help employees work without needing to travel while taking over repetitive tasks that reduce focus. Green tech for business will mean many operational benefits alongside all-important protection for our resources, climate and atmosphere. Companies should aim to stay ahead of customers' expectations and move more quickly than regulation requires. The coming years will only bring more environmental scrutiny and awareness, so it will pay to invest in greener tech today.
deepwell gaming therapy

Are games the future of mental health treatment?

  • min read
    • In Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses worldwide who are changing things for the better. One of the biggest challenges for mental health treatment is reaching more people who need it. Some don't realize they're mentally unwell. Others can't access therapy because of costs or waiting lists. Many don't like the idea of discussing their problems with a stranger. DeepWell DTx aims to change that by bringing mental health therapy to the masses – especially hard-to-reach patients – through gaming. Co-founders Ryan Douglas and Mike Wilson speak about why games are a great way to treat mental health issues – if you get the formula right. 1. Why did you decide to start DeepWell now? We found that mental health came up constantly in our respective careers – Mike in gaming and Ryan in creating medical devices and therapies. We saw many people were missing the resources or help to treat disorders like anxiety and depression. We often talked about what we could do to address this unmet need, then the deepening mental health crisis alongside the Covid-19 pandemic pushed us to start DeepWell. 2. What's DeepWell's philosophy? We put games and game developers first. There is no treatment without player engagement, so therapy must be embedded in a fun and engaging game. 3. How has your team of 40 experts across gaming, science and mental health helped your success? Our diverse team is made up of professionals at the top of their fields. Neurosurgeons, lawyers, creative strategists and others all work in service of the game developer. Without the game's fun, there is no therapy. 4. What can players expect might change after playing your games? Our games aim to help players improve their physical and emotional functioning. After playing consistently, you should notice greater resilience and capability to handle the stress and anxiety of daily life. 5. How has gaming supported your mental health? Which games do you recommend for therapy? At the moment we're focused on virtual reality (VR,) using games like Pistol Whip and motivational fitness apps like Supernatural for leisure and exercise. These games have especially helped during the pandemic for getting off the couch and quelling anxiety with movement. We've also found immersive fantasy games like Lorne Lanning's Oddworld and American McGee's Alice, role-playing games (RPGs) like Wizard101 and world-builders like Minecraft therapeutic for us and our families. Any game that takes you out of your head has potential benefits. 6. Who are your customers? Are businesses investing in these games, such as the healthcare industry, or any business hoping to improve employee wellbeing? We're reaching out directly to folks with mental health issues. We also partner with game developers, publishers and platforms to create new games or repurpose games that are already therapeutic. We hope our games will make mental health treatment accessible to a broader audience. 7. Serious games have evolved as a genre in recent decades, especially in academia and healthcare. Do you align with it? We are not serious games. We rely on the power of play and engagement that good games provide. While we see the value of other approaches, this is what makes us different. 8. How will your FDA games certification project benefit the industry and gamers? Being able to make claims and develop games with therapeutic intent, and to have players understand the therapeutic benefit of engaging, will change game development and the audience games can reach. 9. Can you tell us about games you plan to launch? The first game we're working on focuses on addressing stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression on a VR platform. More to come closer to launch. 10. How will you keep your products secure and safe for users? We closely follow the FDA and HIPAA guidelines and requirements for data management in prescription games. 11. What will success look like for DeepWell? Widespread recognition of the power of game developers to develop Immersive Medicine and being able to produce many therapeutic options for a range of cultures and mental health conditions.
How AI can make therapy better

Could AI make mental health therapy more effective?

  • min read
    • Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze vast amounts of data more quickly than humans and draw accurate conclusions, making for myriad business applications. But now, some technologists and mental healthcare clinics are using artificial intelligence (AI) to inform mental health therapy. They think it could help pinpoint the most effective strategies to help sufferers get better. This may mean better staff retention and productivity and greater value for money from employee assistance programs for business. UK-based mental health clinic Ieso and US-based mental health technology firm Lyssn are among those experimenting with AI-augmented therapy. Why mental health is harder to treat I spoke with Valentin Tablan, Chief AI Officer at Ieso. He says while physical healthcare has MRIs, CAT scanners and hundreds of blood tests to diagnose conditions, "In mental healthcare, we've been slower to adopt technology. But that's changing. We can start using artificial intelligence and natural language processing techniques to understand therapy-specific language and gain insights from that." Ieso uses AI to analyze transcripts of patient-therapist conversations to identify which elements of therapy give the best outcomes, identify cases that may need a more experienced therapist and help evaluate the quality of care. They're also working on a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) companion app that supports patients in between therapy sessions. Lyssn also uses AI to evaluate the quality of psychotherapy and give therapists actionable feedback. Practitioners hope to increase recovery rates and quality of care to bring it on par with physical healthcare's higher recovery rates. Ieso has seen recovery rates increase 2 percent alongside its AI program – small but encouraging. AI no replacement for therapists "Psychotherapy's quality is usually measured by experts observing a conversation. Our AI is trained to replicate this human judgment, reducing the cost and time to evaluate the conversation," says Zac Imel, chief science officer and co-founder of Lyssn. More accessible, AI-powered forms of therapy include chatbots. These can help support patients between sessions, collect useful data and provide emotional support to people who cannot access therapy because of stigma, time or financial reasons. Chatbots simulate a conversation between humans, using AI to learn from examples of real conversations. The AI in this case is often trained on therapy session transcripts. It replicates how a therapist would respond to a patient with some accuracy. UK's National Health Service (NHS) says up to 8 million people in England want to access mental health treatment but do not qualify for it. High costs, long waiting lists and not wanting to unburden themselves to a stranger also keep people away from therapy. "One barrier to providing care to more people is that CBT, the most common evidence-based treatment for depression, is hard to teach. Having tools to speed up the training would help," Dr. Paola Pedrelli, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, told me. Additionally, supervisors usually evaluate and provide feedback to therapists in training, but there isn't always the time or resources. AI could bridge that gap. Pedrelli is part of a team that worked on a project using machine-learning algorithms to diagnose and monitor major depressive disorder. "Sometimes treatment takes months to work. Tools to speed the process would be beneficial," she added. AI's advantage over the human brain AI's biggest advantage over the human brain is being fast and reliable at analyzing data, said Imel of Lyssn. AI can quickly analyze, process and gain insight from large data sets, making it a powerful tool in mental healthcare where markers of recovery are vague. "With repetitive tasks, humans get tired and can drift over time. And if you show a human the same conversation twice, they might evaluate it differently. With AI – same data in, same answer out," Imel says. How AI-powered mental health can help employees AI-based therapy tools like Ieso's CBT companion app, Ellie, Woebot designed by Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) at the University of Southern California, The Trevor Project's Crisis Contact Simulator and others cannot replace human therapists but help improve access and reduce cost. In a randomized, controlled trial of 70 participants, Woebot users displayed a significant decrease in depression symptoms compared with the control group. Both groups showed a decrease in anxiety. Those experiencing mental distress or stress at work could be directed to therapy bots as a bridge between needing therapy and getting access to it. Chatbots can also gather data about how a patient feels and suggest clinical intervention where required. Organizations considering employee access to therapy bots should consult an expert and make sure therapy is available alongside these solutions rather than as a substitute. Privacy and security in AI-powered therapy Alongside benefits, AI-powered therapy programs come with obvious cybersecurity and privacy risks. Sensitive and private conversations between patients and therapists could be exposed or manipulated. Iron-clad security is the first step to protecting patient privacy. Tablan and Imel shared the importance of data security to their companies and how they keep patient data safe, such as using multiple layers of security and robust security certifications. "Most people working at Ieso can't access this data. It's accessible to computers, but few humans," said Tablan. Even with the strongest security practices, risks to patient privacy still exist, as a lot depends on humans who can access the data. But those involved believe the potential benefits of AI-powered therapy outweigh the risks. AI-augmented, not AI-based therapy There's much to suggest unconscious bias is present in the therapy room as in other parts of life. Black and minority ethnic people are less likely to find counseling fit for purpose. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people also report greater dissatisfaction with counseling and psychotherapy than their heterosexual counterparts. When AI programs can imbibe biases in data used to train them, there must be concerns that AI-based outcomes could further marginalize some patients. Dr. Tonya Davis, faculty member at Northwestern University, Illinois, suggests "unconscious biases – things hidden just beneath the surface of our awareness" might impact training AI chatbots. "I think that if there is a deliberate effort to identify, understand and resolve biases beneath the surface of our awareness, we could be one step closer to addressing the cultural challenges in person-to-person interactions, thereby minimizing these challenges in the development of AI." Pedrelli said, "There have been cases where AI has provided inappropriate directions in the context of therapy. And AI is still unable to detect subtle emotional changes." However, AI tools only augment diagnosis and therapy. They shouldn't be relied on for unilateral decisions on patient care. "The tools we've built look over our quality of care – they never make any decisions automatically," said Tablan. "They just present information to a qualified clinician who has access to the transcripts and make up their own minds." Imel doesn't describe what Lyssn does as "AI-based therapy." Instead, he says, "This is about using technology to augment the human talent of therapists. So, it's human-based therapy, augmented by AI."
data cooling center

How Ireland is using waste heat from data centers to warm homes

  • min read
    • Home to the physical servers that keep the Cloud aloft, data centers have become vital pieces of global IT infrastructure. These centers now provide computing horsepower for billions of connected devices. But our digitized world needs a lot of energy to function. Data centers consume over 1 percent of the world's electricity. With thousands of servers to run and keep cool, large data centers can use as much electricity as a small city. Ireland's favorable geography and regulation have so far attracted over 70 data centers, powering global Cloud services for tech giants like Microsoft and TikTok. Managing the energy footprint of data centers is a challenge that will only grow. Ireland's energy regulator says data centers could use almost 30 percent of the country's electricity by 2027, endangering climate goals. Adding to the energy toll, over 75 percent of data center electricity becomes waste heat. Could the way data centers act like giant radiators help reduce some of their climate impact? Data centers make great heaters Ireland's weather is famously cold and wet at almost any time of year. Keeping homes and businesses warm, mostly using gas or oil boilers, makes up nearly a third of Ireland's carbon emissions. For John O'Shea, Energy Systems Analyst at Dublin energy agency Codema, the synergy between Ireland's heating needs and its data centers' waste heat is clear. "In winter, a data center can provide heating up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius) similar to a gas boiler, with better energy efficiency than a heat pump in a new house." O'Shea and his team are part of the Tallaght District Heating Scheme through the EU-funded Heat Net project. And it's on track to turn data center heat waste into a sustainable heat source for the Dublin suburb's homes and businesses. From 2022, water cooling servers in Tallaght's Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center will be upcycled through a new district heating network. A new way to approach an old solution As a way to heat buildings collectively in urban areas, district heating schemes are nothing new. In Scandinavia, the 1970s oil crisis made sustainable heating a priority for urban planners. In Copenhagen, almost 95 percent of heating comes from reused waste heat from factories and other heat emitters. Although data centers have been used to power existing district heating networks in Scandinavia, Tallaght might be first to build a new heating network around a data center. Using data center waste heat to provide low cost, sustainable heating is a rare win-win climate solution. O'Shea says, "From phase one, we'll save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year by using something that's otherwise vented into the atmosphere." He thinks the solution has global potential, pointing to a paper he co-authored showing unconventional heat sources like data centers could provide 10 percent of the EU's total heating and hot water. With efficient heating comes efficient cooling The district heating program also helps reduce another big environmental impact of data centers: Water use. Many data centers use evaporated water to cool servers. At peak times, one data center can use over a million liters of water a day. In return for transferring waste heat to the network, the center gets cooler water back, reducing or even removing the need for evaporation cooling. O'Shea says the system's benefits go even further. "Because our network is always monitoring heat output, we've got an extra set of eyes on the health of the data center cooling system." This extra monitoring could save money and hardware damage – a recent study of 41 data centers by leading digital infrastructure provider Vertiv found the average cost of a downtime event was over 506,000 US dollars. The most common cause was power or cooling failures. Beyond district heating Paul Deane, a researcher fellow at Ireland's MaREI Environment Research Institute, agrees the Tallaght heating solution has big potential but notes combining data centers with district heating "is not a magic bullet." Deane points out that in Ireland alone, data centers may contribute "around 1 million tonnes [of C02] each year by 2030." He thinks data center energy use demands a combined approach. "We need proactive solutions like district heating and other measures like greater renewable energy use and carbon offsetting." Some in the Irish parliament have described growing numbers of data centers when the government is reaffirming its commitment to a carbon-neutral future as "out of control," but Deane sees a silver lining. "You can look at data centers in two ways: As part of the problem or part of the solution. I like to look at them as a solution." He adds, "We need data centers, but we also need them to be cleaner." For Deane, proactive solutions like Tallaght's district heating system are a step in the right direction. With free heat from an industrial by-product and dramatically reduced CO2 emissions and water use, it's hard to argue with that.
Drones and emergency response

How drones with neural networks could transform disaster response

  • min read
    • Climate change and COVID-19 have made conversations on how we respond to emergencies mainstream. We've become more aware of the essential workers who risk their lives to save lives or even just keep things ticking over. We've seen multiple applications of new technology fast tracked in the quest to address never-before-seen challenges. In disaster relief, it's great to see ever-widening applications for drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs,) with their ability to give a fast and relatively inexpensive overview. For example, during 2020's locust invasion, Kenyan Red Cross used drones to assess impact on agriculture and livestock and the effectiveness of control efforts. In Oregon, California and other fire-ravaged US states, firefighters used drones to map fires and even to drop incendiary fireballs that help stop forest fires. These start small fires, removing fuel an approaching fire needs to spread. Artificial brain takes to the sky At Kaspersky, we've been working on a particular contribution to making it easier for authorities to respond to disasters and emergencies with drones and artificial intelligence (AI.) We're piloting an emergency analytics system that uses a neural network. These are mathematical models or algorithms made up of interconnected nodes (neurons) working a little like a human brain. Drones gathering data and identifying objects Of this technology's many possible applications, the most important are in situations where human life is at risk. Drones collecting data for real-time analysis by neural networks can search for missing people, animals and houses washed away in floods. It can assess damage from aerial images after an incident or provide crowd management information, helping to avoid human crush incidents. We're working with drone manufacturers Albatros and have already installed the Kaspersky Neural Network in two of their drone models. In developing the system, we focused on its capacity to detect small objects in limited visibility. For example, emergency services need to find buildings that survived after an earthquake and distinguish residential from non-residential buildings. In a flood, they need to know the amount of debris in a flooded area. Machine learning technology like a neural network can process images and recognize objects instantly. In one of our tests, the Kaspersky Neural Network processed thousands of high-resolution images of rough terrain on a laptop with limited computing power in a few minutes. Our neural networks self-teaches – each time you use it, results improve. Trained on tens of thousands of images, it can recognize and classify people, houses, cars and more. You can process data onboard a drone or on a server or laptop after the flight. Nikita Kalmykov, CEO of drone makers Albatros says, "The system is initially focused on incident analytics and people search. It can also help in the agricultural, construction and oil industries. It has the flexibility customers need for intelligent aerial surveys." Concerns around drones in emergency relief Using drones that process and categorize information using a neural network comes with challenges. Drone technology researcher Faine Greenwood points out public distrust of drones has slowed their adoption in disaster relief. To help smooth over this turbulence, Humanitarian UAV Network educates people and develops standards for humanitarian drone use. When training a neural network, as with all AI, it's important to consider potential bias in data sets and work to reduce it. For example, can the system identify people of all skin colors, genders and body sizes? Can it identify buildings or plants seen in a wide range of countries? Gathering data ethically and storing it securely is another area of concern. In their best practice guidance, Humanitarian UAV Network advises, "Only collect aerial data that has a clear value for specific humanitarian purposes. Other data could be used in discriminatory or other negative ways, or exploited by third parties to harm local communities." The International Red Cross also issues a handbook for data protection in humanitarian action. One thing is clear: In a world of growing challenges in preserving human life, every new tool is worth having. While AI rapidly transforms every part of our lives, drones using neural networks have an important role in disaster relief. It's no surprise humanitarian organizations and emergency services increasingly use drones in their work. Processing information with neural networks can add another level of efficiency and effectiveness to their important work. I hope we'll see this technology widely adopted, and with it, many lives saved.
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About Secure Futures

Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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