Ethical considerations
Understand the ethical implications of technology before deciding how—and whether—to use it.
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Before collaborating with people in crisis-affected communities, it is worth understanding some of the ethical pitfalls of digital technology – including the newest innovations, often viewed collectively as “emerging technology.”
Emerging technologies
-Write a paragraph explaining what emerging technologies are.-
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Which technologies are considered emerging?
Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI systems analyse large datasets to support predictions, classifications, or decisions in humanitarian action.
- Why it is considered emerging -
AI systems are rapidly evolving and often difficult to explain, audit, or challenge.
- Key risks - Bias, lack of transparency, unclear accountability, and reinforcement of existing inequalities.
Biometrics: Biometric technologies use physical or behavioural traits to identify individuals and manage access to services.
- Why it is considered emerging -
Biometric data is highly sensitive and irreversible, with long-term impacts that are still uncertain.
- Key risks - Surveillance, exclusion, misuse of data, and loss of control over personal identity.
Blockchain: Distributed ledger technologies used to record transactions or manage identity and aid delivery.
- Governance models are unclear and evidence of sustainable use at scale remains limited.
- Key risks - Inflexibility, unclear responsibility, exclusion of users, and difficulty correcting errors.
Drones and aerial technologies: Drones are unmanned aerial systems used for activities such as mapping, monitoring, assessments, or delivering supplies in humanitarian contexts, particularly in hard-to-reach or crisis-affected areas.
- The use of drones in humanitarian settings is still evolving and raises unresolved legal, ethical, and social questions, especially in fragile or conflict-affected environments where their presence can be misinterpreted.
- Key risks - Perceptions of surveillance or militarisation, risks to privacy and safety, lack of informed community consent, and erosion of trust if the purpose and use of drones are not clearly understood or agreed upon.
A note on emerging technologies
Emerging technologies – AI, blockchain, drones and others – have the potential to address a wide range of problems. While this makes them attractive for humanitarian use, digital solutions are only effective if they are designed around the problem, not around a particular technology. Participatory approaches start from the community’s perspective on the problem in order to determine the right solution. If the right solution makes use of emerging technologies, that introduces additional complexity and risks that the intervention will need to address.
The humanitarian sector should therefore approach emerging technologies in as participatory a way as any other digital tool. That implies engaging target audiences, understanding limitations and constraints as well as opportunities, identifying risks and seeking informed consent, adapting to needs and giving communities agency in decision making. The same principles apply, whatever technology is involved.
Points to consider
Humanitarians and technology developers can avoid problems by considering the points below.
Power and decision making
Digital solutions are often developed by external actors (governments, corporations, donors), sidelining local communities and the organisations working directly with them.
Who controls and benefits from these technologies?
Accountability and bias
AI-driven decision-making (for instance for predicting famine risk or allocating aid) can be opaque and biased.
Who is accountable if an algorithm or technology causes harm?
Dependency and sustainability
Some digital solutions create long-term dependency on external providers instead of strengthening local capacities.
High costs, maintenance issues, and lack of contextual adaptation can make digital solutions ineffective.
Ethics of experimentation
Humanitarian crises are not testing grounds, yet new technologies are often piloted in these settings without full ethical safeguards.
There is a risk of “technological colonialism,” where solutions are imposed without local agency or oversight.
