Tomorrow’s demons: a scoping review of the risks associated with emerging technologies (22 October 2024)

Summary

Society faces a growing set of risks from advanced emerging technologies. While there has been discussion on some of these risks, a comprehensive overview does not exist, and it is not clear what methods are suited to identify future risks.

This scoping review aimed to synthesise current knowledge regarding the risks associated with emerging technologies.

The findings show that a diverse set of technologies and risks have been considered, with ten risk themes identified: risks to human health and wellbeing, sub-standard technology risks, legal and ethical risks, privacy and security risks, socioeconomic impacts, ecological and environmental risks, malicious use risks, geopolitical risks, technological unemployment risks, and existential threats.

It is concluded that there is a need to expand the focus of prospective risk assessments to consider the organisational, sociotechnical and societal systems in which emerging technologies will be deployed. The development of a future technology risks classification scheme is also recommended.