More than 100 people participated yesterday in the online launch event of the Journal SEVENTEEN (revista DIECISIETE), in which experts debated the opportunities - but also the challenges and ethical limits - posed by the digital transformation in relation to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the 2030 Agenda

Madrid, 25 March 2021

Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data, augmented reality, collaborative platforms in the cloud, Blockchain sound like great promises in the new and unstoppable digitalised society. But will this digital transformation shorten our path towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and its 17 sustainable development goals, or is it rather necessary to mark new boundaries and paths to avoid the potential risks or negative impacts of this new model of society, from the perspective of ethics or regulation?

This is the topic addressed in the fourth issue, ETHICS AND DIGITAL REVOLUTION, of the journal Seventeen, a scientific publication of Acción contra el Hambre in collaboration with the Innovation and Technology for Development Centre of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda from science, research and dissemination of knowledge.) In this fourth issue, experts in economics, information technologies, law and sociology, public and private sector, address the issue.

"Are we sure we have the right tools to control the digital transformation? Can we guarantee that it will be sustainable and contribute to people's well-being? What digital future do we aspire to? What should humans decide and what should algorithms decide?" Jesús Salgado, professor at the UPM and editor of this issue, opened the event with these questions.

Digitalisation, a common good

"This issue is a mapping of how technology should work to make the world a better place", was the declaration of intent with which Txetxu Ausín, director of the Applied Ethics Group of the CSIC, opened the debate. "Technology is advancing at an unstoppable pace, the ethical debate is accompanying it - although monopolised by developed Western countries - but the legal debate is not, perhaps, keeping pace or going to the heart of the matter. We have adapted to the changes, but we have not reflected enough in the legal sphere on how these changes affect people," added Margarita Robles, Lecturer in International Public Law, University of Granada. Ausin and Robles are co-authors of the article "Ethics and law in the digital revolution".

Reconciling digital transition with ecological transition

Andrés Ortega, Director of the Observatory of Ideas and Senior Research Associate at the Elcano Royal Institute pointed to connectivity as the main current challenge of the digital revolution. "Connectivity has yet to become a common good. Like electricity or water before, for now it is only for the rich. A very important aspect of the digital revolution is the environmental impact due to the associated energy consumption, and this is an ethical aspect that is little considered. A positive alliance between the two current transitions - the ecological and the digital - must be put in place,

"We live in a hybrid environment between the real world and screens. Until now our world had natural laws, now we are building a virtual world, a new scenario to which the laws of human ethics must be applied: there is no machine ethics. Machines must be governed by human behaviour," said Ángel Gómez, a colonel in the Spanish Air Force and geopolitical analyst in the Ministry of Defence. He is co-author of Towards an Ethics of the Hybrid Ecosystem of Physical and Cyberspace.

"The digital transformation at a distance allows us a much more affective education. It makes it possible not only to adapt training to the diversity of students, but also to their state of mind. The potential is enormous, but we have to face the challenges of privacy and autonomy, which are especially pressing in low-income countries", explains Ángeles Manjarrés, Researcher at the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) and co-author of the article Service-Learning and the 2030 Agenda in artificial intelligent studies.

Digitising to make room for human creativity

"Technology is creating new opportunities for organisations that are committed to a profound transformation, which does not consist of using digital tools but rather a cultural change that enables new ways of working and doing things. Analytics can optimise the services we provide and help us devise new services. At Action Against Hunger we are taking advantage of the opportunities of technology to improve our processes, automate tasks and thus gain efficiency and leave more room for creativity. Another benefit we are exploiting is the technological possibilities to anticipate crises," Victor Giménez, director of digital transformation at Action Against Hunger and author of Digital innovation and Transformation of International NGOs. Action Against Hunger’s vision.

María Luz Cruz Aparicio, Innovation Manager at Iberdrola and co-author of the article The digital future of the energy sector reviewed the different aspects of the application of artificial intelligence in the energy sector.  

María Luz Cruz Aparicio, Innovation Manager at Iberdrola and co-author of the article El futuro digital del sector energético (The digital future of the energy sector) reviewed the different aspects of the application of artificial intelligence in the energy sector.