It Is Time for Regulators to Open the ‘Black Box’ of Technology

Abstract

In this essay, we utilize our personal experience with two “data points” (namely policymakers and students) to argue that all levels of government need to re-evaluate current approaches to the regulation of emerging technologies. More specifically, governments need to delegate much of the “heavy lifting” and focus on community-driven regulatory design in which government and all of the stakeholders in technology companies work together in partnership to co-create robust and flexible regulatory architectures suitable for a fast-changing digital world. Such a shift in approach requires a new “digital mindset” amongst all participants in the policymaking process and, consequently, reforming education to ensure a greater degree of digital literacy is a vital first step in building durable long-term solutions to the urgent challenges of a digital age.