Development of risk management has not kept up with pace of technological change

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More investment into risk management is needed to ensure a correct risk/reward balance from technology, according to John Drzik, president, global risk and specialties at Marsh.

Speaking at the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2017 earlier today, Drzik said there is a tremendous amount of benefit that comes from technology and that, if deployed properly, the benefits in many ways offset some of the risks.

“The pace of change in technology has been very rapid and much of the focus and investment has been on this innovation to drive benefits. But risk management with respect to technology has been slower to develop and there needs to be a parallel investment in risk management in order to ensure we are getting the right risk/reward balance from technology both at an overall societal level as well as within individual companies,” he said.

He also highlighted the top three new risks that stem from emerging technologies, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT):

  • New avenues and a broader attack surface for cyber attacks
  • Uncertainty around legal liabilities. Who owns the liabilities of the decisions taken by self-driving vehicles, drones and other applications of AI?
  • Impact on employment. 86% of US manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2010 were lost due to technology, not to trade. Furthermore, there is a geopolitical context to automation, as jobs and retaining jobs is a vital issue in many of the political campaigns this year

Click here to read an exclusive interview with Drzik on the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence

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