These days, working in tech means spending lots of time thinking about how to implement and exploit the capabilities of AI. This technology is changing the world with new options and capabilities and this train has a lot of track left before we reach the edge of this bubble and it falls off the rails. Personally, I see this current era like the dotcom bubble. Exactly like the internet, we have a technology that will fundamentally change the world and usher in a new paradigm for modern life (ugh) but is also being over-hyped and over-invested and eventually reality will catch up.
However, I want to be clear that I'm not an AI denier or a full-blown Luddite. What we have now is a truly wonderful set of tools and we're barely starting to scratch the surface of the capabilities ahead of us. Remember when the pinnacle of the internet was dancing banana gifs? Now it powers global ... well, everything. AI has the same potential, hype bubbles be damned.
And here we reach the point of this post. Alongside thinking about how to bootstrap data migrations and create AI-ready technology suites despite legacy and technology debt I've been pondering something much more important - digital inclusion in the face of AI.
Society is not good at dealing with sweeping change. If we follow the business drivers alone, we rapidly reach the point where it is too expensive to support people. Superfast broadband changed the face of the internet, but if you live somewhere slightly rural you probably don't have access to this. It's expensive to lay those cables if there are only three households using it so bad luck. Sites like Amazon or banking apps have no requirement to support all users, so they have a cost / benefit ratio that targets modern browsers and modern hardware. If you're running older hardware and cannot upgrade then it is not financially viable to maintain the service for you.
This is not a post about bashing capitalism, but I want to make it clear that people are always left behind when technology pushes society forward. People are cut off from what others consider normal, and eventually there is just no way to bridge that gap. This is where government steps in. There is legislation covering the national rollout of broadband. Has this solved the problem? No. But it has forced progress in the right direction. Working on online government services, digital inclusion was (and is) vital. There are huge benefits to digitising government services, but it is simply not acceptable to leave anyone behind. This is one reason there is always a paper fallback for any online government service.
Other organisations face the same problem. Charities such as Macmillan are not required to make their services available to all, but clearly it is in support of the mission to make sure they do - and again, tremendous work is done in this area.
There are many strands to digital inclusion, but put very simply they come down to identifying barriers created by skills, access or money and how those barriers can be removed.
Ok, time to think about AI. First, we shall consider cost. You can do some stuff for free, but if you want to properly use a tool you will likely want a subscription. A ChatGPT subscription is £20 per month. If you want to add a Microsoft / Google productivity subscription that's another £20 per month (Google Gemini). For the moment that is probably enough, unless you want to play with video or something else specialist. But we have already reached £40 per month or £480 per year. Apparently the average UK salary at the time of writing is £37,430pa gross (source: Forbes). So our £480 is over 1.5% of net income per year. That is a huge chunk of income when considering it is up against essentials like rent and food.
Now, we can say that AI tools are a luxury and arguably for the moment that is true. But this is a technology that can supercharge productivity. Someone familiar with AI tools can research more thoroughly, write better, generate ideas and templates ... and this is all very simple prompt work. And equally importantly, they can produce results so much faster. If this is applied to a job search, use of AI to enhance writing can be a massive uptick in the quality of an application which obviously makes the applicant more likely to get the role.
We have something that will rapidly become an essential skill and capability. How does one learn it? You need some technical skill and you need time. These are not in easy supply for most people and even then, often people need someone to get them started. Point at the correct URL, say "type in there". I've seen it with relatives - it wasn't until WhatsApp got the Meta AI button they engaged at all and they still needed encouragement to push the button when it appeared. Building skills in the alien world of tech is far harder than those of us on the inside realise.
Years ago, access to the internet was a nice to have. Then broadband was a nice bonus on top of your dial-up connection. Now (in the UK at least) your access to high speed internet is enshrined in law. However, it is too late - too many people have already been left behind and it is another have / have not divide in society. AI will create another but more profound divide. Rather than have / have not we will see a can / can not gap and that will directly align with salaries.
Written out, this progression is pretty obvious to me, and I am sure I am not the only one. The first question is - do we care? I have spent my career in public and third sector work and for me, the answer is a clear yes. AI is an exciting and genuinely transformative technology, but if we want it to be a force for good we must ensure it doesn't just benefit the wealthy and technically literate. We need to be thinking about digital inclusion now - as a core concern, not as a side project.
For myself, I am going to keep giving back to this industry where I can. Where I work with services and policy-makers, I will continue to uphold these ideals. More locally, I recently became a STEM Ambassador, which gives me the chance to connect with developing minds (yikes) - and the people who teach them. I am running some AI workshops this summer, helping people get started one "type here" at a time.
These are not grand gestures. But inclusion starts small - with a nudge, a link, a bit of time. This stuff is surprisingly low-barrier once you know where to look.
So, ending on a challenge. If you are already on the inside, think about who isn't - and how you might help them in. The divide is growing. Let's not wait until it's too wide to cross.
