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Jonathan Kewley tech lawyer

Technology and the law: What will we see next?

  • min read
    • Too few lawyers are at home in law and tech – a vulnerability in highly digitized economies. Jonathan Kewley is working to bridge the gap, leading a team of specialists in technology and the law at Clifford Chance and founding IGNITE, combining legal training and tech development. I caught up with him to discuss global artificial intelligence standards, the proliferation of ransomware attacks, and diversity in tech and law. Elisabeth: The lack of AI (artificial intelligence) standards is a rapidly growing problem. Is there hope for international agreement? Jonathan: Government will has never been greater, but how do you get from will to an agreement? The European approach has been like a land grab: Proposing global standards in the form of the new AI Act. The EU is good at setting technology standards that can be applied globally because that's easier for companies than to adhere to many standards. But the EU is likely to struggle to enforce outside the EU, for example, in China. So we see increasing fragmentation around AI standards. There are different priorities. The US is concerned regulating AI might harm innovation, and China speaks about the need for security. But the elephant in the room is the security of private information. Other countries with highly developed financial infrastructure think a lot about these issues because it could mean financial instability if AI goes wrong. There should be areas all countries can agree on, like the security of children's data and protecting vulnerable groups from AI bias and prejudice. There, we can build consensus and establish a global, multi-lateral approach. Recent ransomware attacks have brought down many vital services, yet nobody knows how to stop them. What would work? Ransomware attacks are rapidly proliferating. There are so many now that law enforcement support to victims is much less than two years ago. Ransomware attacks can bring down a company, especially since digitization of customer service and working from home brought on by the pandemic. If those services are affected, the company often feels they must pay the ransom or face ruin.   Companies must make sure their workforce understands ransomware risks. Many attacks begin because people innocently allow attackers in, for example, through phishing emails. And as people use digital services more, they become more comfortable in the digital environment and more trusting. Criminals exploit that. Employers must make sure employees realize they're on the frontline. We need new digital-age ways to lean over to a colleague and ask if an online request looks suspicious. Today, law and tech firms are more open to all kinds of employees, but they're not very successful in attracting minorities. What are they missing? The two industries have some similar challenges. Traditionally they have been male-dominated and tend to draw talent from privileged backgrounds. At times, tech and law still feel intimidating and closed-off to people from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. It's vital for people from minority backgrounds to know they belong in tech and law, and that they can rise to the top. To help change the narrative, I've established a scholarship program where I studied at Hertford College, University of Oxford, supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds to study computer science. Diversity in tech education is not just about winning hearts and minds – people also need money. It's not about diversity for diversity's sake – it's about getting a range of perspectives around the table. It will mean tech is designed and built by representative groups: Safer and more ethical technology for all. Tech and law firms often say in job ads that they invite people from minority groups to apply. What else should they do to attract a more diverse workforce? They need to go far beyond that. At Clifford Chance we do outreach with schools and local communities to show young people that there are people like them at our firm. We're also committed to achieving a more neurodiverse workforce. We've worked with autism specialists to review and adjust how we interview and assess candidates. Then there are practical steps like ensuring we don't have a one-size-fits-all approach to appraisals and acknowledging a more diverse talent pool will have different training needs and priorities. Which trends do you see shaping the technology and legal field in the next few years? Algorithms. We've already seen the car crash created by the exams algorithm misfiring in the UK, allocating school grades on a postcode lottery. If this is magnified in a business of scale, it will bring that business down. Secondly, technology ethics boards are already starting to appear and will be common in five years. These will inspire change at C-suite level by being more diverse, creative and challenging than conventional oversight structures.
emotional intelligence ai

To recruit diverse talent, we need emotionally intelligent AI. But how?

  • min read
    • Recruiting stand-out, creative talent poses a challenge. In the wake of the pandemic, we need creativity more than ever. The Harvard Business Review says, "Imagination may seem like a frivolous luxury in a crisis, but it is actually a necessity for building future success. Now is not the time for only executing a practiced recipe." Artificial Intelligence (AI) designed for recruitment can build an 'ideal candidate profile' using historic data from your business, but is that enough? Can the best creative talent be so easily defined? Using any candidate profile automatically creates bias, whether positive or negative, because it's then used to source candidates and identify those most likely to succeed in the role. Algorithms even exist that can recommend candidates based on interview attributes, like facial expressions, body language and word choice. If you're recruiting based on who's been successful with your company before, can those with different kinds of experience and viewpoints have a fair chance to shine? To find the best free-thinking talent, we may need an AI with emotional intelligence that can go against bias. AI mirrors our best and worst traits Is AI itself biased? Frida Polli, a former academic neuroscientist at Harvard and MIT, and CEO of Pymetrics talent matching platform, doesn't think so. She told Wired magazine, "AIs are learning from the origins of bias – the human brain." Stephanie Allcock, tech industry HR specialist, echoes the sentiment. "In theory, AI should reduce unconscious bias in recruitment, but it depends on how you program it. Their success is down to the data you feed it." The World Economic Forum warns, "Past hiring decisions are used to train the algorithm to evaluate who is most likely to be the 'right' applicant. Often this approach inherently replicates the same biases present before the arrival of AI recruiting tools." And it happens. Amazon was forced to scrap a secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women because it "taught itself" male candidates were preferable. Whether using machine or human judgment, without frameworks in place, it's easy to hire those who fit your workplace culture, leading to a team without diverse experience. A Wall Street Journal report said, "Employers often aim to hire people they think will be a good fit, but their efforts can easily veer into a [situation] where new hires all look, think and act alike." Unconscious bias and why it matters If questioned, most of us would say (and believe) we don't have prejudice. But unconscious bias is the assumptions we hold that we're unaware of. It may include preconceptions about people based on, for example, sex, race, disability or age that seep into our decision-making without our knowing. Solving unconscious bias is not as simple as alerting workers that they may have it. It can make the team defensive and unreceptive to coaching. Myra LalDin, CEO of diversity training start-up Vectre, told Workflow magazine, "From a neuroscience perspective, your brain automatically starts trying to defend itself, and you don't hear the content being presented." Using VR to reduce unconscious bias International professional services giant PwC predict VR and AR could boost the global economy by 1.5 trillion US dollars over the next 10 years, with one-fifth coming from its use in training. Traditionally used for job skills simulation like flight simulators, safety procedures and equipment operation, a recent PwC study shows impressive potential for using VR for soft skills training, like empathetic leadership and problem-solving. 'V-learners' (learners using a 3D virtual environment) found the simulations so realistic that they made decisions the same as they would in real life. 75 percent reported a 'wake-up call moment' that helped them identify times in their past when they had not been as inclusive as they'd thought. V-learners were up to 275 percent more confident to act on what they learned after training. This is significant because when it comes to soft skills, confidence is key to success. Confidence builds employee satisfaction, leads to better employee retention. It also helps to improve work quality and reduce mistakes. At scale, v-learning would likely be more cost-effective than classroom or e-learning. Most participants said they preferred it to traditional approaches too. The study goes so far as to call a 'blended approach' to learning "the future." It suggested VR is best for practicing what you learn in a safe environment, e-learning is great for academic activities such as learning how to use software, and classroom training is best for working collaboratively and discussing with peers. The path to AI with emotional intelligence AI and algorithms can be blamed for many things, such as unfair exam results or secretly ranking Tinder users based on their 'desirability' and ruining the chronological timeline of Instagram. It doesn't create unconscious bias but reinforces prejudices present in its source data. This is where skills training comes in. With immersive technology like VR, we can reduce unconscious bias in ourselves before we feed our recruitment choices into automated programs using AI. Automated recruitment technology is useful, but it shouldn't replace human judgment. Otherwise, the best talent may get missed because they don't have the right keywords in their application. Emotionally intelligent AI will help us find the best talent, not just the most obvious fit, just as soon as we can train ourselves to make more emotionally intelligent choices.
quantum computing talent

How business could leap the quantum computing skills gap

  • min read
    • Chiswick Health Centre is a large brutalist building in London, UK. Along its snaking concrete entrance ramp, masked people form a socially distanced line. Inside, the open-plan waiting room has neat rows of prefabricated cubicles, and a COVID-19 vaccination nurse is doing his rounds. New drugs and latest findings in the life sciences have never been more important. Innovative techniques to help develop and distribute vaccines have been delivered in double-quick time. And if there are the people to do it, quantum computing could make the process even faster. Where are the quantum computing skills gaps? Although the latest quantum hardware, pioneered by the likes of IBM and Google, has a way to go, in a decade or two, we could even see the 'holy grail:' a universal quantum computer. Ilyas Khan, Founder of enterprise quantum solutions developers Cambridge Quantum Computing, says, "There are two clear sectors in quantum computing. First, the hardware and second, the software and algorithm discovery. There are severe skill shortages in software and algorithm discovery. On the hardware side, the issue is less pressing, but the engineering problem that must be solved is, of course, very hard." Fast growth in the quantum computing market Tech industry insights firm ReportLinker forecasts the quantum market will grow from 472 million to 1.7 billion US dollars between 2021 and 2026. And governments are backing it by investing in education and training. In 2018 US Congress passed the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA,) investing more than 1.2 billion US dollars in quantum research and development. The European Union launched its quantum computing flagship around the same time, with an expected budget of 1 billion Euro. China, Australia, Singapore and others are starting their own quantum initiatives. But what's all this got to do with developing and distributing medicines? Drug discovery leading the quantum market The field of medicine and biosciences searching for promising new medicines is called drug discovery. Here, the value of quantum algorithms is already evident. A 2020 poll of life sciences organizations showed almost a third (31 percent) were starting to look at how they could use quantum computing. A further 39 percent said they have quantum computing "on their radar" for 2021. Khan of Cambridge Quantum Computing says things like drug discovery can take many years using the most powerful classical computers. Although quantum computing is still early stage, "it's close to starting to match classical timescales," making it worthy of investment. Pharmaceutical companies are keen to get ahead in quantum. This January, drug discovery firm Boehringer Ingelheim achieved a first in its industry, announcing it was joining forces with Google in quantum computing. In a statement, the company said it would "invest significantly" in the coming years to realize the full potential of the technology. Boehringer Ingelheim has already set up a dedicated quantum lab, hiring "outstanding experts in the field of quantum computing from academia, industry and quantum providers." Talent is key: The poll of life science organizations previously mentioned found 28 percent thought missing skills were a potential barrier to progress. Specialist skills needed for a challenging technology Vincent Yam, Co-founder of AI and quantum computing recruitment agency Tekna Search, explains how niche quantum computing skills are compared with regular software development. "Most people have a Ph.D. in something quantum-related and a physics background, either at undergraduate or Master's level. Even then, two say, superconductivity specialists may have very different skills." Khan says, "Quantum information theorists tend to have physics, maths and computer science backgrounds. A small but growing number have also done graduate or postgraduate quantum information theory." Anticipating quantum skills shortages, investment bank JP Morgan started an internship program for quantum talent in 2020 for Master's or Ph.D. students. Universities are stepping up their programs too. Renowned institutions like the UK's University College London (UCL) and Duke University in the US have launched a Master's degree in quantum technology. Khan thinks there's still not enough investment in education. "The range of quantum computing graduate and postgraduate degree courses must increase substantially." Practical internships can nurture the talent pipeline While true quantum computing is some way off, quantum developments are coming thick and fast. These will impact many businesses in the not-too-distant future. The skills are so specialized and sophisticated that governments are putting their weight behind developing the best talent, and even then, education is falling short. Yam of Tekna Search says he keeps seeing the same top 10 global institutions in his recruitment efforts. This shows how small the pool is and suggests businesses should focus on getting talent early from best-in-class quantum research universities. Tech giant IBM is working to secure the best people early with an initiative aimed at high school students. Quantum computing could help tackle society's biggest problems. Its computational power could hasten our way out of the next pandemic, but it will need the best minds. Companies must think today about who those minds should be, and how to hire and develop them.
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