25 Nov 2022

Digital Ethics Summit 2022 – Staying the course

In less than two weeks techUK are hosting our sixth Digital Ethics Summit, an annual opportunity to reflect on the major ethical questions facing the tech industry. Sue Daley, Director of Tech & Innovation, shares what we should expect this year.

Since we first had the idea for the Summit in 2017, the role of digital ethics has evolved significantly. Back then, we got together to form principles for responsible technology, AI in particular, and important civil society bodies such as the Ada Lovelace Institute were just being established. Now, those organisations have become well established and we are gathering to see how the implementation of ethical principles is progressing across industry, policy and regulation.

The journey from principles to practice is not always an easy one, which is why this year’s theme is Staying the course. Ethical questions rarely have straightforward answers and myriad priorities and stakeholders inform which approaches are pursued. Keeping digital ethics as a core guide to decision-making even when it gets difficult is a measure of commitment, and the purpose of this year’s Summit is to find out how to make sure we stay committed. We will look at action already undertaken across public and private sectors, ask what we have learned from mistakes made in the past, and scan the horizon with themes such as safety in the metaverse and AI ‘sentience’.

To help us navigate these conversations, we are joined by some of the greatest thinkers on digital ethics. Some of them have shared their insights since the early Summits, including Professor Luciano Floridi of Oxford University, Hetan Shah from the British Academy and Carly Kind who heads up the Ada Lovelace Institute. Others are new faces at the Summit, including John Edwards, who came into office as Information Commissioner at the beginning of this year, and Professor Beth Singler who brings a fascinating perspective as a Professor of Digital Religion(s). Crucially, we bring to the fore the voice of the tech industry itself, from those who provide advice and guidance on ethical practices, including Clifford Chance and Sopra Steria, to those who build the technologies that impact our everyday lives, like Roblox, X0PA AI and QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey.

Altogether, I think it will be a fantastic group of people for some of the most important discussions in current times, and I truly hope to see many of you there. You can sign up for your ticket here.

Digital Ethics at techUK

For techUK, it is important digital ethics is not only a topic of discussion once a year at the Summit. If you would like to engage in our ongoing work, members can join our Digital Ethics Working Group, where we meet to discuss current priorities and engage with important stakeholder. At our most recent meeting were joined by Professor Sandra Wachter who shared findings from her actionable research on AI biases. In the summer, I also had the honour of chairing a panel with techUK members and the renowned Professor Stuart Russell discussing whether AI engineering is really an ethics job. If you would like to get involved or have ideas for our digital ethics work, please get in touch with [email protected].

Sue Daley

Director, Technology and Innovation

Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work.

This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy. She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards.

Prior to joining techUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for Symantec's Government Relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN IGF and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety. Before joining Symantec, Sue was senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sue has an BA degree on History and American Studies from Leeds University and a Masters Degree on International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. Sue is a keen sportswoman and in 2016 achieved a lifelong ambition to swim the English Channel.