Artificial intelligence, smart packaging and other innovations could revolutionize the poultry supply chain and the food sector; however, the ethical implications of these technologies need to be considered.
“There’s a lot of work going into making these technologies happen, because obviously there’s a lot of benefits,” said Dr. Naomi Jacobs, lecturer in Design Policy and Futures Thinking at the Imagination Laboratory at Lancaster University.
“What we’re doing here is talking about these benefits, but also adding a note of caution and saying that if you’re going to do this, you need to also think about the ethical challenges and potential risks.”
Jacobs is a part of the ethics working group, a part of the of the Internet of Food Things Network, a UK-wide interdisciplinary research network. This working group looks “at the challenges of data sharing in the context of the wider food supply chain,” Steve Brewer, research fellow, The Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, University of Lincoln added.
For example, when looking at the adoption of a new technology, it’s important to consider any possible implications. Will this get rid of jobs? Might this be an issue in a certain community? Can you as an organization invest in training or education to upskill some of the current staff?
In addition, are new technologies better tailored to larger businesses, thus discriminating against smaller organizations?
Ethical framework coming soon
Members of the ethics working group come from a variety of disciplines – from tech to ethics to design fiction to food and agriculture.
“It means we have a lot of different perspectives,” Samantha Kanza, chemistry research fellow, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, said. “We can all contribute all these different points of view that maybe you wouldn’t get if you only discussed things within one discipline.”
The ethics working group discussed their goal of designing an ethical framework to elicit questions, facilitate discussions and explore the implications and consequences of digital collaborations throughout the food supply chain in a recent issue of the journal Patterns.
“While we don’t claim to have all the answers for the future of the food system, we recognize that it is very complex, and the future is going to involve artificial intelligence, robotics and all of those good things,” Brewer explained.
