COMPLIANCE RESPONSIBILITY FOR VIRTUAL BEINGS
Back in 1979, Gary Numan asked: ‘Are friends electric?’ His song referred to and was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, discussing what it means to be human. Today, virtual influencers, intelligent algorithms and even human-like robots like ‘Sophia’ have become reality. And with each iteration it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish them from humans. Having such virtual creations within a business poses a number of important questions, including what the consequences of this might be, and who inside the organisation is responsible for them.
Compliance requires companies to ensure their employees behave appropriately. This does not stop with compliance with relevant laws and regulations; it must go one step further and draw links and holistic connections between corruption and the wealth of nations and the welfare of society.
Automation is, in many respects, a double-edged sword, leading to new opportunities but also risks. Since the industrial revolution, workers have been replaced by machines, and while in previous decades, robots were the most likely to replace human workers, more recently artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged, and is becoming more human-like in its responses.
Today, there are virtual influencers on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Lil Miquela, for instance, has more than 3 million followers on Instagram. For those companies that create and control these virtual avatars, there are many advantages. For instance, they are less vulnerable to scandals than human influencers. Organisations can develop their own influencer, or use the services of an already established influencer, owned by a third-party company.
Apr-Jun 2023 Issue
Patrick Henz