January 19, 2023
What is the digital divide?
Digital technologies are integral of many of our lives. We can often take this for granted until the dreaded moment our laptop doesn’t work or we have forgotten our phone. Now our whole day is amiss… However, many still do not have easy access, or lack understanding of how to use digital technologies in their daily lives. This is the digital divide.
The digital divide is the gap between those with access to modern digital technologies and those without. It was notable during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK as the shift to remote work and home schooling revealed gaps in access to technology and digital literacy.
The risk is that those without adequate access to the Internet, digital devices and digital literacy will face greater difficulty in accessing quality education and future job opportunities, further widening the gap and socioeconomic inequalities. As our society progresses to an ever more digital world, it is important to understand the digital divide is impacted by advancing technologies in order to challenge policy and decision makers to ensure those who are impacted by it are including are empowered for our increasing digital future.
What is Open AI (Artificial Intelligence)?
Open AI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company that is focused on developing AI technologies to solve world problems. Open AI state that their mission is to ensure artificial intelligence benefits humanity. Currently, the public can access Open AI via their digital device. Chat GPT is one of the Open AI technologies freely available; ask it any question and you will get an answer. The applications for use are vast, with the potential to automate process, solve problems and improve efficiencies. Chat GPT is unlikely to stay free and there are already plenty of musing on the internet about how this technology will be monetized. And it is likely to be monetized, just like Jasper AI, Writesonic AI, Cactus AI, other intuitive AI chat bots which perform similar functions that are available on a monthly or yearly subscription.
Open AI have also released an Application Programming Interface that allows developers access to the AI and integrate it into their products and digital infrastructures. In addition to the individual user, many companies are now paying for and integrating this technology into their business operations, improving processes and efficiencies.
As Open AI is becoming mainstream the internet is buzzing and questions are being asked. The question that we are asking is will this technology increase the digital divide with those with access to AI-powered technology having an advantage over those without.
What does Open AI mean for the digital divide?
The use of Open AI technology has the potential to widen the digital divide. Those without access will likely be disadvantaged. For example, those who can afford to develop artificial intelligence applications and integrate them into their business will have a competitive commercial advantage. There is a risk workers will be displaced as AI technologies are used to automate tasks and processes which were previously completed by humans. (Our thoughts go to the many people for whom job displacement is a painful reality as the tech industry makes extensive culls.) And those who lack technical skills and have poor digital literacy are likely to be disadvantaged as they are unable to access these technologies or work in jobs that require use of them.
However, the integration of Open AI could offer huge benefits to reduce the digital divide and provide new solutions for those who were previously disadvantaged. There is an argument to say that those whose jobs are at risk due to automation will find new jobs managing AI-automated processes. Open AI also has the potential to create a large sector of new jobs available - data scientists, AI engineers, research and development, AI-related marketing and sales will all become common place and provide jobs for young people entering the work force in the next 10 years. Not to mention how AI technologies could be deployed to solve our climate crisis with innovation solutions. The jobs that were made redundant by Open AI will soon be replaced by jobs required to manage AI processes in business.
Those who are at risk of being most disadvantaged are those without technology access and have poor digital literacy. Most young people in the UK have a mobile phone but lack digital literacy. Using Open AI educational systems can be developed to provide a mobile app service that creates learning material to help these young people improve their digital literacy. Therefore, if used wisely for social enterprises Open AI could provide innovative solutions and education to those who were previously disadvantaged.
There has and will always be concerns about the threats of new technologies. As Open AI is steadily integrated into our workplaces and personal lives, the apprehension many of us will feel will be important to stir up questions to challenge the ethical and responsible use of these technologies and ensure that it is applied wisely with a social conscious. The conversation around these concerns and challenges is important to ensure that our governments, policy makers and decision markers are being held accountable to integrate these technologies responsibly, that new policies are created to protect people who are at risk and ensuring the digital divide is made smaller.
Below are some resources in the UK that are addressing the digital divide.
Resources
1. Good Things Foundation: Good Things Foundation is a UK charity working to reduce digital exclusion by providing online resources to help users build basic digital skills. https://www.goodthingsfoundation.org/.
2. The Connected Nations report from OFCOM: This report provides up-to-date information on the availability, take-up and quality of digital connectivity across the UK. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research#:~:text=The%20Connected%20Nations%202021%20report,helping%20to%20further%20improve%20them.
3. The Digital Inclusion Programme from the Local Government Association: This programme provides councils with the tools and resources to help vulnerable groups to get online. https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/cyber-digital-and-technology
4. Closing the Digital Divide for Good: An end to the digital exclusion of children and young people in the UK: This report provides an in-depth analysis of the digital divide in the UK and outlines a range of practical solutions to address it. https://www.unicef.org.uk/policy/closing-the-digital-divide-uk/#:~:text=The%20UK%20Committee%20for%20UNICEF,the%20digital%20divide%20in%20England.