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Unlocking Maximum Productivity and Efficiency Through Strategic IT Planning

December 12, 2023/in Uncategorized/by Wingman

Most modern businesses rely heavily on their IT systems to manage internal processes, coordinate projects, and serve their customers. The integrity and performance of these systems is therefore vital to ensuring smooth business operations, meeting the expectations of customers, and managing relationships with all business stakeholders.

As we discussed previously, IT management and maintenance is vital to the delivery of efficient and reliable digital systems, however it isn’t the only piece in the jigsaw. You also need to ensure that your IT infrastructure is properly aligned with your business objectives, has the ability to scale and accommodate anticipated demand, and offers the digital experience that today’s tech-savvy customers both demand and expect.

4TC Managed IT Services – Proactive IT Services and Innovative Solutions for London Businesses

From managed IT and support, to cyber security and cloud services, 4TC provides the full spectrum of IT services London businesses need to grow and thrive in our digital age. Our mission is to help businesses work more productively and securely, with expertly managed solutions tailored to solve longstanding business challenges.

Partnering with a managed IT service provider grants businesses access to a wealth of technical expertise and industry insights. This allows MSPs to function as strategic partners to businesses, guiding and helping them adopt tailored solutions that meet their needs both now and into the future. In this article, we want to demonstrate how managed IT service providers can help businesses better align their IT with their strategic objectives, and optimise technology to achieve better performance and business efficiency.

Goal Alignment Assessment

At the beginning of an IT partnership, managed service providers work closely with businesses to understand their overarching objectives so that any strategic planning that follows helps drive the business towards its strategic goals.

This exercise will involve extensive consideration of both long and short term objectives, and may involve consultation with multiple stakeholders across the business in order to gain a range of perspectives. Organisational goals might include expansion plans, revenue targets and customer satisfaction outcomes.

The goal alignment assessment will take into account the interplay between business processes and the current IT system. It will consider any dependencies that exist within workflows, and any existing IT pain points that inhibit process efficiency. A technology capability analysis may be conducted, to determine the current IT system’s maturity, and its ability to support the business’s goals going forward.

This vital first step forms the basis for effective strategic planning, and ensures the IT provider has a full, contextualised understanding of the business, its goals and how well these are being supported by its current IT infrastructure.

Tailored Technology Roadmaps

Following on from the goal alignment assessment, managed service providers develop ‘technology roadmaps,’ which set out a phased plan for implementing the IT changes required to achieve the organisation’s goals using technology.

This phase of strategic planning maps technological solutions to specific goals, with great care taken to choose solutions that are appropriate to the scale, nature, compliance needs and budget of the business. Consideration could be given to a wide range of IT elements, including software, hardware, cloud services, cyber security controls and data management systems.

In most instances, a technology roadmap will seek to introduce changes incrementally, in order to minimise disruption, ensure project costs are manageable, and to align the IT strategy with the organisation’s timeline for achieving its goals more broadly.

After taking into account objectives, constraints and other requirements, technology roadmaps developed by MSPs help businesses leverage their IT system to achieve strategic objectives, ensure IT performance is continuously optimised, and move forward with a futureproof technology stack.

IT Resource Optimisation

A key aspect of the strategic IT guidance offered by managed service providers involves ensuring IT assets and resources are being deployed optimally in support of organisational objectives: a practice known as ‘resource optimisation.’

Resource optimisation will often feature an IT audit, a process that seeks to understand the lie of the land in terms of the business’s IT. This audit will aim to expose inefficiencies and redundancies, such as duplicate/overlapping software, underutilised hardware, and manual processes that could be quickly and easily automated.

Through resource optimisation, managed service provider can help businesses eliminate wasteful IT expenditure, introduce time-saving initiatives like automation to improve productivity, and create strategies for IT streamlining to create simpler, more efficient workflows.

Scalability and Flexibility

Ensuring IT systems are able to adapt and scale to meet changing business requirements is a vital consideration in strategic IT planning. Managed service providers can help businesses assess the scalability of their current IT infrastructure, and plan for changes that provide greater capacity when certain growth benchmarks are exceeded.

This aspect of strategic planning is also intimately linked with IT performance. MSPs will assess whether current IT systems have the capacity to handle increases in workload, data volumes and user demands without significant performance degradation. If current performance limitations are found, dynamic resource allocation may be implemented as a short-term option, whilst technology architecture that permits seamless scalability is explored for the future.

If the business is anticipating rapid, dynamic growth in the near future, an MSP can prescribe a range of highly scalable, future-ready IT solutions that can be quickly adapted to fast changing requirements. These include the likes of cloud solutions, virtualisation and modular hardware. A managed service provider can also help the organisation develop a diverse technology stack, designed to aid resilience and flexibility by avoiding the pitfalls of being locked into a single technology platform. This might involve exploring hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud setups as an alternative to fully on-premises hosting or consolidation into a single cloud service.

Security and Compliance Integration

Today, businesses are required to navigate a complex web of data protection regulations and standards, including the GDPR and PCI DSS. Managed service providers can help organisations weave compliance into the fabric of their IT infrastructures, ensuring cyber security measures meet the requirements set by regulators, and that data controls offer an appropriate level of information oversight and governance.

Security and compliance integration will typically begin with a cyber security audit. This exercise will map out existing security controls, seek to identify existing vulnerabilities, and determine how well the current security arrangements meet the organisation’s security needs in the context of its industry and regulatory requirements.

Once the assessment process is complete, a data security and compliance framework can be developed, containing both technical controls and procedural measures for ingraining compliance, and a strong security posture, into the fabric of the IT system. This framework might include data access controls, encryption, firewalls, information security policies and any other measures deemed necessary and proportionate.

By making data security and compliance an integral part of strategic IT planning, managed service providers can help organisations manage risk, keep sensitive data secure, and support reliable and efficient business operations.

Final Thoughts

Optimising the performance of your IT system is one thing, but it’s an altogether greater challenge to ensure your technology remains fast, efficient and aligned with your goals as your business grows and evolves. By partnering with a managed IT services provider, you benefit from IT strategy planning that ensures your technology is able to scale with your needs, adapt to changing pressures, and remains continuously aligned with your business processes and compliance requirements.

4TC Managed IT Services – Uniting People, Processes and Technology

Secure, stable and optimised IT infrastructure is critical to the success of all businesses in our information age. 4TC helps businesses across London and the Southeast realise their potential through the delivery of expertly managed IT services and support, and solutions that solve business challenges by achieving perfect alignment between people, processes and technology. Get assistance with your IT challenges today by getting in touch, we’ll be glad to assist you! 

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Unlocking Efficiency: The Role of Managed IT Services in System Optimisation

December 11, 2023/in 4TC, Uncategorized/by Wingman

If you’re thinking about outsourcing your IT needs to a managed service provider, you’re likely drawn by the prospect of performance-optimised IT. In today’s dynamic and digitised business environment, you can’t afford for your vital systems to break down, and you need your technology to perform flawlessly so that your business operates efficiently and productively. So how can a managed service provider ensure that your IT never misses a beat and truly delivers for your business?

4TC Managed IT Services – Proactive IT Services and Innovative Solutions for London Businesses

Here at 4TC, our managed IT services, responsive support, and tailored solutions are designed to help London businesses achieve peak efficiency and grow sustainably. We employ a proactive approach across every aspect of our service offering, ensuring our clients enjoy fast, secure and robust IT infrastructure that facilitates maximum operating efficiency. We do this by deploying a number of technologies and IT management best practices, which combine to deliver the IT performance that our dynamic clients have come to expect.

In this article, we’ll provide a brief guide to how an IT managed service provider can help you achieve better business efficiency through IT performance optimisation. We’ll explore the techniques, technologies and practices that form vital ingredients to the delivery of fast, reliable and secure business IT.

Performance Optimisation Strategies

Using Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software, plus a host of other remote-capable IT management solutions, an IT managed service provider can carry out a range of performance optimisation strategies. These strategies are designed to complement one another, to support a fast, responsive, high-quality end user experience. Here are some of the elements performance optimisation strategies often entail:

Resource Allocation

A managed service provider can monitor and disperse workloads across multiple servers and components. This ensures network traffic flows freely, avoiding the performance pitfalls that can arise when a network component becomes overloaded. CPU usage, memory usage and disk input/output are just some of the metrics that are closely observed.

Load Balancing

Load balancing involves distributing network traffic volumes across available servers, avoiding performance bottlenecks, and ensuring resources are assigned efficiently. A managed service provider can perform this vital performance optimisation strategy by continuously monitoring server health, and regulating and directing network traffic accordingly. If one server is under strain, or suffering issues, inbound requests can be assigned to healthier servers that have the resource capacity to cope.

Network Optimisation

A managed service provider can take a number of actions to ensure seamless and fast cross-network data flow, that maximises the use of available resources. By optimising network configurations, implementing Quality of Service (QoS) policies and, where necessary, prioritising critical data traffic, an MSP can ensure that network bandwidth is managed efficiently, and in a way that supports business critical functions.

Latency Reduction

‘Latency’ refers to the time delay, or ‘lag’ that occurs as data transits a computer network. Some latency is inevitable, but too much can have a detrimental impact on the experience for end users. A managed service provider can play a critical role in resolving network latency issues, by identifying and resolving the issues at play, which might include inefficient routing and network congestion.

Caching Mechanisms

A managed service provider can improve network responsiveness by deploying caching mechanisms, which make frequently used information readily available to applications and services. These avoid the need to fetch information from source in each instance and help contribute to a responsive and seamless user experience.

Performance Monitoring and Analytics

Performance monitoring tools can be deployed to measure, capture and analyse system performance across a variety of metrics, including response times, resource utilisation, error rates and more. This analysed data can be used to identify trends, forecast future problems and support informed performance optimisation decision-making. Data can also be leveraged for capacity planning purposes, ensuring that necessary provisions can be made ahead of periods of increased demand or anticipated growth.

Scheduled Maintenance

A proactive managed service provider will carry out a comprehensive programme of maintenance designed to foresee and address network issues, and resolve vulnerabilities before they evolve into costly episodes of IT downtime. The following elements usually form the basis of an IT provider’s scheduled maintenance activities:

Patch Management

Security updates, commonly referred to as ‘patches,’ are software updates that vendors or manufacturers release to enhance the security of their products or address discovered vulnerabilities. A managed service provider will usually take the lead in testing, applying and configuring these patches, to ensure software vulnerabilities are resolved in a timely manner that leaves very little time for malicious actors to exploit them. Proactive patch management is a vital component in maintaining a robust cyber security posture, and in sustaining the performance integrity of business-critical software and systems.

Task Automation

The remote management and monitoring software used by managed service providers often enables the automation of routine maintenance tasks such as disk clean-ups and defragmentation. This automation ensures that tasks beneficial to system performance are carried our regularly and consistently, helping to ensure a smooth and responsive user experience.

Hardware Health Checks

By performing regular diagnostic inspections of critical hardware components, including servers, storage devices and networking infrastructure, a managed service provider can help foresee hardware failures, and take the appropriate steps to avert system impact.

Performance Tuning and Continuous Improvement

A managed service provider can make use of the wealth of network activity data at their disposal to introduce a raft of system refinements designed to enhance overall performance. Such refinements might include altering configurations, tweaking setting and even optimizing programme code.

This activity data is continually gathered, allowing system administrators to introduce iterative enhancements on an ongoing basis, ensuring that system resources are consistently aligned with organisational needs, and the changing demands placed on them.

Rapid Issue Resolution

So far, we’ve talked about the proactive elements that constitute an effective IT support and management service, however, it’s important to recognise the vital supporting role played by post-incident support functions. When an IT problem strikes, you need issue resolution that prioritises a root cause fix, and restores critical functionality in the quickest possible time. Here’s how a managed service provider can help minimise downtime and enhance efficiency through responsive support services:

24/7 Helpdesk Support

The best-managed service providers offer 24/7 helpdesk support, backed by competitive response time guarantees. Utilizing ticketing systems, support requests are efficiently managed and tracked from initial submission to resolution. Tiered support structures assign priority ratings to issues, ensuring that critical and highly complex issues receive expedited support. These issues are handled by appropriately qualified engineers to guarantee a swift and lasting fix.

Remote Troubleshooting

IT support personnel make use of remote access tools which enable them to connect to and remotely configure user devices without the need to be physically present. These tools allow the vast majority of IT issues to be resolved remotely, expediting issue resolution dramatically, and minimising downtime and any subsequent lost productivity. Screen sharing allows IT support to view the user’s desktop environment in order to gain a first-hand understanding of the issue present, and diagnostic capabilities allow them to review a wide range of system information, including activity logs, configurations and performance data. These capabilities combine to give IT support teams formidable remote troubleshooting capabilities.

Final Thoughts

By taking a data-driven, proactive approach to network optimisation, undertaking a programme of preventative maintenance, and provide fast, expert support for any issues that slip through the net, a managed IT service provider can offer everything your business needs to operate performance-optimised and dependable IT infrastructure. Give your team the slick, fast technology they need to work effectively, and eliminate the IT outages that are holding your business back by exploring the benefits of managed IT services today.

4TC Managed IT Services – Uniting People, Processes and Technology

The 10 Biggest Cyber Security Trends In 2024 Everyone Must Be Ready For Now

November 27, 2023/in 4TC, Blogs/by admin

By the end of the coming year, the cost of cyber attacks on the global economy is predicted to top $10.5 trillion.

This staggering amount reflects the growing need for cyber security to be treated as a strategic priority on an individual, organizational and governmental level.

As in every other field of business and technological endeavor, artificial intelligence (AI) will have a transformative impact on both attack and defense. Its impact will be felt across every one of the trends covered here.

The Cyber Security Skills Crunch

A shortage of professionals with the skills needed to protect organizations from cyber attacks continues to be a running theme throughout 2024. In fact, the situation appears to be getting worse – research indicates that a majority (54 percent) of cyber security professionals believe that the impact of the skills shortage on their organization has worsened over the past two years. We can expect efforts to rectify this situation to include a continued increase in salaries paid to those with the necessary skills, as well as greater investment in training, development and upskilling programs.

As AI increases in sophisticoation at a frankly alarming rate, we will continue to see more sophisticated and smart AI-powered attacks. This will range from deepfake social engineering attempts to automated malware that intelligently adapts in order to evade detection. At the same time, it will help us detect, evade or neutralize threats thanks to real-time anomaly detection, smart authentication and automated incident response. If cyber attack and defense in 2024 is a game of chess, then AI is the queen – with the ability to create powerful strategic advantages for whoever plays it best.

Next-Level Phishing Attacks

Social engineering attacks involving tricking users into giving attackers access to systems will also increase in sophistication. Generative AI (such as ChatGPT) tools enable more attackers to make smarter, more personalized approaches, and deepfake attacks will become increasingly prevalent. The response to this will largely revolve around organization-wide awareness and education, although AI and zero trust will play a growing role, too.

Cyber Security In The Board Room

In 2024, cybersecurity is a strategic priority that can no longer be siloed in the IT department. Gartner has predicted that by 2026, 70 percent of boards will include at least one member with expertise in the field. This enables organizations to move beyond reactive defense, meaning that they can act on new business opportunities that come with being prepared.

IoT Cyber Attacks

More devices talking to each other and accessing the internet means more potential “ins” for cyber attackers to take advantage of. With the work-from-home revolution continuing, the risks posed by workers connecting or sharing data over improperly secured devices will continue to be a threat. Often, these devices are designed for ease of use and convenience rather than secure operations, and home consumer IoT devices may be at risk due to weak security protocols and passwords. The fact that industry has generally dragged its feet over the implementation of IoT security standards, despite the fact that the vulnerabilities have been apparent for many years, means it will continue to be a cyber security weak spot – though this is changing (more on this below).

Cyber Resilience – Beyond Cyber Security

Two terms that are often used interchangeably are cyber security and cyber resilience. However, the distinction will become increasingly important during 2024 and beyond. While the focus of cyber security is on preventing attacks, the growing value placed on resilience by many organizations reflects the hard truth that even the best security can’t guarantee 100 percent protection. Resilience measures are designed to ensure continuity of operations even in the wake of a successful breach. Developing the capability to recover in an agile manner while minimizing data loss and downtime will be a strategic priority in 2024.

Less Than Zero Trust

The fundamental concept of zero trust – always verify – evolves as systems become more complex and security is integrated into business strategy. Zero trust states that there is no perimeter within which network activity can be assumed to be safe. As the threat landscape evolves, this principle extends beyond the corporate network to the ecosystem of remote workers, partnered organizations and IoT devices. In 2024, zero trust moves from being a technical network security model to something adaptive and holistic, enabled by continuous AI-powered real-time authentication and activity monitoring.

Cyber Warfare And State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks

The war in Ukraine, which looks set to enter its third year, has exposed the extent to which states are willing and able to deploy cyber attacks against military and civilian infrastructure in 2024. It’s a safe bet that going forward, wherever military operations take place around the world, they will go hand-in-hand with cyber warfare operations. The most common tactics include phishing attacks designed to gain access to systems for the purposes of disruption and espionage and distributed denial-of-service attacks to disable communications, public utilities, transport and security infrastructure. Outside of warfare, major elections will take place in 2024 in countries including the US, UK and India, and we can expect an increase in cyber attacks aimed at disrupting the democratic process.

Soft Skills Becoming Increasingly Essential For Cyber Security Professionals

Cybersecurity professionals will increasingly be expected to take on more complex workloads during 2024 as the threat landscape grows ever more sophisticated. This doesn’t simply mean in a technical sense – those with responsibility for countering cyber threats will also find themselves tasked with more complex social and cultural aspects of threat mitigation. This will lead to a growing reliance on soft skills such as interpersonal communication, relationship-building and problem-solving.

Cyber Security Regulation

Governments and organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the risks to national security and to economic growth posed by cyber threats. The potential social and political fallout of large-scale data breaches is also a major factor in the emergence of new regulations around cyber security issues. For example, businesses in the UK have until April 2024 to ensure they are compliant with the Product Security and Telecommunications Act, which sets out minimum security requirements that networked products must adhere to (for example, they mustn’t be shipped with a default password). Implementation of the EU’s similar Radio Equipment Directive has been delayed until 2025, but the topic is still likely to be high on the agenda of legislators throughout 2024.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/10/11/the-10-biggest-cyber-security-trends-in-2024-everyone-must-be-ready-for-now/

IT Support Exposed: Ensuring Smooth Operations for Your Company

November 26, 2023/in 4TC, Blogs/by admin

In the fast-paced world of business, the reliance on Information Technology (IT) has become indispensable. From managing day-to-day operations to fostering innovation, IT plays a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth functioning of companies. Behind the scenes, a dedicated team of IT professionals provides the necessary support to keep the digital gears turning. In this article, we delve into the world of IT support, exploring the critical aspects that contribute to the seamless operation of a company.

The Backbone of IT Support

Proactive Problem Resolution

In the realm of IT support, the best approach is often proactive rather than reactive. Rather than waiting for issues to arise, IT professionals actively monitor systems, identify potential problems, and implement preventive measures. This involves regular system updates, security patches, and performance optimization. Proactive problem resolution not only minimizes downtime but also enhances the overall efficiency of the IT infrastructure. By anticipating and addressing issues before they impact operations, IT support becomes a strategic partner in the company’s success, rather than a mere firefighting squad.

Navigating the Information Technology Transition

As businesses evolve in the digital era, the transition emerges as a defining factor in their ability to stay competitive. This phase of the Information Technology transition involves not only upgrading hardware and software but also adapting to new paradigms in how technology is utilized within the organization. The IT support team plays a pivotal role in orchestrating this transition, ensuring a seamless integration of emerging technologies. Whether it’s migrating to cloud-based solutions, implementing advanced cybersecurity measures, or harnessing the power of data analytics, a well-executed Information Technology transition lays the foundation for enhanced operational efficiency and future growth. This dynamic process demands not only technical prowess but also a strategic vision as IT support becomes a driving force in shaping the technological landscape.

User Training and Education

While IT professionals are adept at navigating the intricacies of technology, not all employees share the same level of expertise. User training and education are critical components of a comprehensive IT support strategy. This involves conducting regular workshops, creating informative resources, and fostering a culture of digital literacy within the organization. When employees understand how to use technology effectively and securely, the likelihood of encountering issues decreases significantly. Additionally, a well-informed workforce can contribute valuable insights to the IT team, aiding in the continuous improvement of systems and processes.

Embracing Remote Support in the Digital Age

The landscape of work has undergone a profound transformation, with remote work becoming more prevalent than ever. In this context, IT support has had to adapt to the challenges of providing assistance to employees scattered across different locations. Remote support tools and technologies have become indispensable for IT professionals, enabling them to troubleshoot issues, install software, and perform system maintenance without being physically present. This shift to remote support not only enhances flexibility for both IT teams and employees but also underscores the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data across various access points.

Scalability and Future-Proofing

As companies grow, so do their IT needs. A forward-thinking IT support strategy considers scalability and future-proofing as crucial elements. This involves implementing systems and solutions that can adapt to the evolving requirements of the business. Cloud computing, for example, offers scalable and flexible solutions that can grow with the company. Additionally, IT professionals must stay abreast of technological advancements, ensuring that the company’s infrastructure remains at the forefront of innovation. By anticipating future needs and embracing scalable solutions, IT support becomes a strategic enabler for the company’s long-term success.

Balancing Automation and Human Touch

Automation has become a buzzword in the tech world, promising efficiency and speed. However, in the realm of IT support, striking the right balance between automation and the human touch is crucial. While automation can handle routine tasks and streamline processes, the empathetic understanding and problem-solving skills of human IT professionals remain irreplaceable. Companies must find the sweet spot where automation enhances efficiency without sacrificing the personalized support that human interaction provides. This delicate balance ensures that the IT support team remains agile, responsive, and attuned to the unique needs of the organization.

In the intricate dance of modern business operations, IT support emerges as a linchpin that holds everything together. From providing the necessary technical expertise to fostering a culture of digital literacy, IT support is instrumental in ensuring the seamless functioning of a company. By adopting proactive problem resolution, investing in user training, embracing remote support, planning for scalability, and striking the right balance between automation and human touch, organizations can build a resilient IT support framework. In doing so, they not only mitigate risks and minimize downtime but also position themselves for sustained success in an increasingly digital and dynamic business landscape.

Source: https://www.otsnews.co.uk/it-support-exposed-ensuring-smooth-operations-for-your-company/

AI and quantum research at centre of UK science and tech announcements

November 25, 2023/in 4TC, Blogs/by admin

Artificial intelligence and quantum research were at the centre of science and technology announcements in the UK chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

The government will boost spending on computing power to develop AI by £500mn over two years to bring total planned investment to more than £1.5bn, said Jeremy Hunt.

The increase followed criticism of the £900mn allocated to AI computing in the March Budget as being too modest by international standards, with other countries planning to spend much more. “It’s great to hear that the government will find a further £500mn over the next two years to fund further innovation centres to help make us an AI powerhouse,” said Rashik Parmar, chief executive of the British Computer Society.

At the same time, the government revealed five “moonshot missions” for its £2.5bn national quantum strategy. They include developing UK-based quantum computers capable of running 1tn operations without making any errors — today’s fastest machines are capable of just a few hundred error-free operations.

It also aims to deploy “the world’s most advanced quantum network at scale, pioneering the future quantum internet”. “It is much more than headline pledges, it’s a call to arms,” said Chris Ballance, chief executive of UK quantum start-up Oxford Ionics. “The government is sending a clear signal of the UK’s unwavering commitment to becoming a leader in the quantum revolution.”

Elsewhere, the Autumn Statement provided £121mn to the UK space sector for a variety of infrastructure investments in Earth observation and communication technology. Some of the money, with additional funding from aerospace company Lockheed Martin, will enable Northumbria University in Newcastle to set up a £50mn North East Space Skills and Technology Centre.

The pharmaceutical and biotech industries welcomed the promise of a £520mn investment in life sciences manufacturing from 2025-26, as well as changes to research and development tax credits that the government says will provide relief worth an additional £280mn per year. “Increased flexibility in the tax relief scheme for R&D-intensive companies will make a meaningful difference to company growth, job creation and accelerating the delivery of new medicines to patients,” said Steve Bates, chief executive of the BioIndustry Association.

Looking at the Autumn Statement as a whole, Sarah Main, executive director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, said: “I’m encouraged by the ideas that emerged. They show government thinking creatively about new ways to support science in the long term and seeding support across the breadth of the science economy.”

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/bdd127e4-0b6e-4047-b038-74c1324d8073

AI doesn’t cause harm by itself. We should worry about the people who control it

November 24, 2023/in 4TC, Blogs/by admin

At times it felt less like Succession than Fawlty Towers, not so much Shakespearean tragedy as Laurel and Hardy farce. OpenAI is the hottest tech company today thanks to the success of its most famous product, the chatbot ChatGPT. It was inevitable that the mayhem surrounding the sacking, and subsequent rehiring, of Sam Altman as its CEO would play out across global media last week, accompanied by astonishment and bemusement in equal measure.

For some, the farce spoke to the incompetence of the board; for others, to a clash of monstrous egos. In a deeper sense, the turmoil also reflected many of the contradictions at the heart of the tech industry. The contradiction between the self-serving myth of tech entrepreneurs as rebel “disruptors”, and their control of a multibillion-dollar monster of an industry through which they shape all our lives. The tension, too, between the view of AI as a mechanism for transforming human life and the fear that it may be an existential threat to humanity.

Many are ‘preppers’, survivalists prepared for the possibility of a Mad Max world

Few organisations embody these contradictions more than OpenAI. The galaxy of Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who founded the organisation in 2015, saw themselves both as evangelists for AI and heralds warning of the threat it posed. “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon,” Musk portentously claimed.

OpenAI was created as a non-profit-making charitable trust, the purpose of which was to develop artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which, roughly speaking, is a machine that can accomplish, or surpass, any intellectual task humans can perform. It would do so, however, in an ethical fashion to benefit “humanity as a whole”.

Then, in 2019, the charity set up a for-profit subsidiary to help raise more investment, eventually pulling in more than $11bn (£8.7bn) from Microsoft. The non-profit parent organisation, nevertheless, retained full control, institutionalising the tension between the desire to make a profit and doomsday concerns about the products making the profit. The extraordinary success of ChatGPT only exacerbated that tension.

Two years ago, a group of OpenAI researchers left to start a new organisation, Anthropic, fearful of the pace of AI development at their old company. One later told a reporter that “there was a 20% chance that a rogue AI would destroy humanity within the next decade”. That same dread seems to have driven the attempt to defenestrate Altman and the boardroom chaos of the past week.

One may wonder about the psychology of continuing to create machines that one believes may extinguish human life. The irony, though, is that while fear of AI is exaggerated, the fear itself poses its own dangers. Exaggerated alarm about AI stems from an inflated sense of its capabilities. ChatGPT is superlatively good at predicting what the next word in a sequence should be; so good, in fact, that we imagine we can converse with it as with another human. But it cannot grasp, as humans do, the meanings of those words, and has negligible understanding of the real world. We remain far from the dream of “artificial general intelligence”. “AGI will not happen,” Grady Booch, chief scientist for software engineering at IBM, has suggested, even “in the lifetime of your children’s children”.

For those in Silicon Valley who disagree, believing AGI to be imminent, humans need to be protected through “alignment” – ensuring that AI is “aligned with human values and follows human intent”. That may seem a rational way of countervailing any harm AI might cause. Until, that is, you start asking what exactly are “human values”, who defines them, and what happens when they clash?

Social values are always contested, and particularly so today, in an age of widespread disaffection driven often by the breakdown of consensual standards. Our relationship to technology is itself a matter for debate. For some, the need to curtail hatred or to protect people from online harm outweighs any rights to free speech or privacy. This is the sentiment underlying Britain’s new Online Safety Act. It’s also why many worry about the consequences of the law.

Then there is the question of disinformation. Few people would deny that disinformation is a problem and will become even more so, raising difficult questions about democracy and trust. The question of how we deal with it remains, though, highly contentious, especially as many attempts to regulate disinformation results in even greater powers being bestowed on tech companies to police the public.

The reason algorithms are prone to bias, especially against minorities, is because they are aligned to human values

Meanwhile, another area of concern, algorithmic bias, highlights the weaknesses of arguments for “alignment”. The reason algorithms are prone to bias, especially against minorities, is precisely because they are aligned to human values. AI programmes are trained on data from the human world, one suffused with discriminatory practices and ideas. These become embedded into AI software, too, whether in the criminal justice system or healthcare, facial recognition or recruitment.

The problem we face is not that machines may one day exercise power over humans. That is speculation unwarranted by current developments. It is rather that we already live in societies in which power is exercised by a few to the detriment of the majority, and that technology provides a means of consolidating that power. For those who hold social, political and economic power, it makes sense to project problems as technological rather than social and as lying in the future rather than in the present.

There are few tools useful to humans that cannot also cause harm. But they rarely cause harm by themselves; they do so, rather, through the ways in which they are exploited by humans, especially those with power. That, and not fantasy fears of extinction, should be the starting point for any discussion about AI.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/26/artificial-intelligence-harm-worry-about-people-control-openai

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Latest News for 4TC

Unlocking Maximum Productivity and Efficiency Through Strategic IT Planning

Goal Alignment Assessment

Tailored Technology Roadmaps

IT Resource Optimisation

Scalability and Flexibility

Security and Compliance Integration

Final Thoughts

Unlocking Efficiency: The Role of Managed IT Services in System Optimisation

Performance Optimisation Strategies

Scheduled Maintenance

Rapid Issue Resolution

Final Thoughts

The 10 Biggest Cyber Security Trends In 2024 Everyone Must Be Ready For Now

The Cyber Security Skills Crunch

Next-Level Phishing Attacks

Cyber Security In The Board Room

IoT Cyber Attacks

Cyber Resilience – Beyond Cyber Security

Less Than Zero Trust

Cyber Warfare And State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks

Soft Skills Becoming Increasingly Essential For Cyber Security Professionals

Cyber Security Regulation

IT Support Exposed: Ensuring Smooth Operations for Your Company

The Backbone of IT Support

Proactive Problem Resolution

Navigating the Information Technology Transition

User Training and Education

Embracing Remote Support in the Digital Age

Scalability and Future-Proofing

Balancing Automation and Human Touch

AI and quantum research at centre of UK science and tech announcements

AI doesn’t cause harm by itself. We should worry about the people who control it

Many are ‘preppers’, survivalists prepared for the possibility of a Mad Max world

The reason algorithms are prone to bias, especially against minorities, is because they are aligned to human values

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