My Lords it’s a privilege to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the new ministers and express appreciation to Baroness Barron and to Baroness Jolly for her valedictory speech. There is much to commend in the gracious speech.
A few weeks ago Pope Francis addressed the leaders of the G7 on the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence. Francis spoke of the way in which artificial intelligence arises from God given human potential. He spoke of the excitement at the possibilities these powerful tools will bring. He spoke of the risks of greater inequalities; of impersonation; and of the need for deep and humane wisdom and ethics and the right political leadership. Pope Francis demonstrated a deep humanity not only in his words but in the way he embraced each leader in the room and lightened for a moment the heavy burdens each carries.
My encouragement to the government is to hold together these very significant developments in technology with deep insights into our humanity on the other: what it means to live well; to build flourishing societies; to enable the wellbeing of all. We must equip our young people be masters of technology not slaves to algorithms; able to put the science to good use but not allow its creations to distort our humanity. The deep ethical questions raised by the sciences will run across every part of the government’s legislative programme but I will focus on three themes if I may.
The first is the intersection of work and technology. An increasing number of people now work for and with algorithms. The quantity and quality of work is changing. Work is fundamental to human flourishing. The new skills and employment bill must have regard to the question of satisfying and rewarding work not only in respect of income but also agency, autonomy and creativity in daily work and the ability to create safe and humane workplaces for the flourishing of all.
The second is the opportunity and risks of data: the need to ensure that every citizen derives maximum benefit from the secure use of data and every citizen is protected from exploitation by individuals or corporations whether in health or education and skills. I would ask the minister what will be the government’s approach to risk in terms of the deployment of untried technologies which have the capacity to do harm? Will security extend to security of data? This seems a vital question given global events today.
The third is to urge that the well being of children and the vulnerable remains at the heart of the government’s approach to technology. Any society will be judged by its care for the young. We have seen two decades of unregulated exploitation of children for commercial gain by social media companies. I welcome very much the resolve of the Secretary of State to further strengthen and enhance the Online Safety Act. We do not yet fully understand what makes for a good digital childhood. Many childrens lives are ruined through overexposure to technology. I urge the government to be bold when it comes to the protection of children online.
Every development in science and technology reveals a little more clearly the wonder of what it is to be human and asks us to mine the deep treasures of wisdom in faith and our common humanity. Will the government dare to hold in tension both knowledge and wisdom for the sake of the flourishing all.
