Adaptive and autonomous systems and their impact on us

Abstract

With technology becoming increasingly ubiquitous and through a wide use of interconnected “smart devices”, the impacts these advanced products have on us is gaining in significance. As technology providers, we are very proud to share the tribute for creating new infrastructures that bring benefits to individuals and society and make life easier. But we may also be held responsible for the possible detrimental impacts that new technology brought about. Especially, if we ignore the threatening consequences and fail to offer some protective solutions. Up to now, there has been some attention paid to privacy issues and security of commercial transactions, but the negative influence of “smart” technology on human behavior has been widely neglected. This paper considers the effects that adaptive and autonomous technologies have on their users. As the impacts can best be observed in practice, a number of application scenarios are taken into account, illustrating both the technical aspects and their possible effects on us.