2022 and the first few months of 2023 have been rich in innovations. Generative AI, NFTs, augmented reality... The technologies at our disposal are becoming increasingly powerful, and their applications show great promise. However, their societal impact is still difficult to assess due to their extremely rapid development and the fierce competition among different actors. We lack the time to establish the necessary framework and safeguards to ensure that everyone can use these tools with confidence and benefit from them.

The work of our Foundation is therefore more relevant than ever in accompanying the societal changes brought about by these disruptive technologies. Do these innovations truly pave the way for progress? It is precisely the role of the Foundation to map these uncharted territories and foster dialogue between technology developers, guardians of our public institutions, as well as those with deep understanding of human nature and our society.

I would like to warmly thank our members, donors, and network of experts for their support in 2022. Thanks to you, we were able to continue our actions and contribute to the development of digital technologies for the benefit of humanity. It is your trust that allowed the Foundation to reach a new milestone in terms of activity and publications in 2022.

Given the number of requests we receive, 2023 promises to be a very eventful year for the Foundation. This illustrates the dynamism of the unprecedented period we are living in and the strong desire of many actors to better understand these technological innovations and harness them for the common good.

We firmly believe that it is crucial to take a step back to assess the full potential of these new technologies. By drawing on all disciplines, we can build together the most comprehensive view possible of the benefits and potential dangers of using each technology, sector by sector. This is the purpose of our ethical analysis method, which forms the basis of all our work.

In the past months, we have also worked on translating our frameworks into tools that our partners can directly use to evaluate and improve their innovation practices. Our aim is to maximize the impact of everyone’s involvement—members, patrons, and experts—in deploying technologies that truly benefit humanity. These efforts shed light on the remaining challenges, but they also offer a hopeful outlook by highlighting the progress achieved through the implementation of these new tools.

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Éric SALOBIR, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Human Technology Foundation