Category: Human Impacts

The SSIT Nominations & Appointments Committee is opening a second call for the position of President-Elect.

We examine social media’s profound influence, delving into its effects on self-esteem, media consumption habits, and exposure to targeted marketing.

The IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society has appointed Prof. George Roussos and Assistant Professor Jordan Richard Schoenherr as the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and the Co-EIC, respectively, beginning in January 2026.

The choices for development, roads, trains, and transport are just as essential to the social impacts of technology as the technologies themselves.

The deadline for the IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society Special Issue on Ethical Innovation with/in Music Technology has been extended to December 31, 2025.

CUCCR approaches solid waste by harnessing data collection to understand the waste flows within the university, using a tucked-away basement space to give waste materials a chance to pause and potentially be repurposed before being landfilled or recycled.

Over 150 scholars and practitioners from industry, academia, government, and civil society gathered at IEEE ETHICS 2025 to examine questions of ethics and social justice in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

SSIT is participating in the IEEE Digital Privacy Initiative, a program under IEEE Future Directions that “focuses on a user-centric perspective—looking at the digital privacy needs of the individuals rather than the security of data, products, and organizations—such as providing individuals with user-enabled privacy controls and promoting privacy at the outset of product and service lifecycles.”

Now that generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that produce data and information are becoming widespread and commonplace, studies are showing that humans have an insatiable appetite for data.  These appetites can result in unhealthy data-snacking behaviors and addictions.

Research has shown that cognitive training done on computers results in modest learning gains with the potential to minimize cognitive decline in older adults. Indifferent attitudes toward the chatbot on the part of participants suggest that developers need to adopt a different approach in designing a more interactive and human-like experience, as older adults may have unique preferences and requirements compared to more tech-savvy users.

We should remember that the smartphone’s persuasive power-though generated through interactions with the device itself-is, at base, due to the very human intentions embedded within the device’s design and functionalities.

In my teaching, I gained insight into some of the ethical dilemmas posed by science and technology but also into the dual nature of the typical student’s response to technology—while they held technology in awe, they also had a sense of alienation from it.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis, wealth and income inequality and affordability, and ongoing global conflicts and genocide, along with the erosion of centuries of democratic norms, it is imperative that academics stand up for their research and its practical applications.

Who knows how the future may materialize? As Yogi Berra also observed, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future!”

SSIT member Mario Aleman has received an IEEE Foundation Community Enablement Proof of Concept 2nd Place Award

When advanced AI capabilities remain concentrated among select countries and corporations, far-reaching implications emerge.

Cities’ abilities to lead on climate action and in democracy speak to the power of collective action and to the potential our individual action has when we can make common cause at the local scale.

The process of advancing AI technology and making AI-generated content attractive to and available to the general public is comparable to that of the printing press and its pivotal influence on newspapers and journalism.

The question at the heart of whether or not engaging with defense research is ethical probably boils down to this: does defense promote peace, or does it promote war?

The ISTAS 2025 theme is “Al Evolution and Revolution” and it is focused on the upheaval Al is causing in the world.