Technology’s Ethics Problem

Startups & Tech

I don’t think it’s overstating things to say that tech has an ethics problem.

The factories that produce the devices we use have inhumane conditions. Facebook’s moderators have PTSD, and the company doesn’t seem to care. The self-driving car industry is cutting corners left and right.

Startups and tech companies have long seen themselves as leaders and innovators.

In many respects, this is true. The world today looks nothing like it did a decade ago, in large part to the advances tech companies have made and the technologies they’ve created.

But if tech companies want to continue to enjoy the trust and goodwill they’ve garnered (or the little they haven’t yet squandered), they need to make some changes.

Tech companies have the opportunity to lead with ethics where politicians and religious leaders have failed. It’s time to seize this opportunity.