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Global Tensions Amplify Tech Risks

Weaponized AI, digital espionage, and other technologies pose new risks for global prosperity

This article first appeared on the World Economic Forum Agenda blog.

Compliance with new regulation could be costly, and failure to comply could result in significant sanctions. Restricted access to digital supply chains and markets will create complexities for firms with global operating models.
John Drzik, President of Global Risks and Specialties, Marsh

Technology will continue to play a vital role in promoting global prosperity. New advances are poised to increase economic productivity, provide radical healthcare solutions, and combat climate change, among other benefits.

But the pace of innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and biotechnology is also creating new risks – ones that will be amplified in a world where geopolitical tensions, nationalism, and social instability are on the rise. Businesses need to consider the threats stemming from technological change through the lens of the shifting global risk landscape.

A recent wave of high-profile cyberattacks – with objectives ranging from disrupting critical infrastructure, to influencing the United States presidential election – has heightened attention around the need for stronger security and governance measures in the public domain. Technological advances have also facilitated a significant uplift in industrial espionage, which could grow further in an era of state-sponsored use of cyber technology. Meanwhile, the future weaponization of AI and robotics by rogue states or terrorists and the scope for hacking global satellite systems are also firmly on the radar of security specialists.

 

Global Tensions Amplify Tech Risks

John Drzik, President of Marsh Global Risks, on new risks to global prosperity.

About Authors

John Drzik is president of Global Risks and Specialties at Marsh. Marsh, like Oliver Wyman, is a division of Marsh & McLennan Companies.


Global Tensions Amplify Tech Risks


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