Turning technology into security superiority

Professor Holger Mey, Head of Advanced Concepts, Airbus Defence and Space

“Technology is as only as useful as the mission or task it serves. For instance, we all know Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are the answer, but what is the question? So we have to understand what we use technology for.”

How are new and emerging technologies affecting urban environments?

The whole organisation of the urban environment in terms of how to optimise infrastructure, services, supply chains, utilities, traffic and everything else is being transformed by the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and sensors everywhere. Urban processes will become faster, cheaper and more reliable for the benefit of everyone. However, there is also the risk that these technologies will be vulnerable to cyber-attacks that can disrupt the processes. We need to ensure that what we do is safe and secure.

How is the role of public safety communications users being changed by technology and what trends for users can we expect?

The availability of continuous, reliable and secure communications will change the way public safety organisations operate. The trend towards centralisation will continue as public safety forces gain complete situational awareness through total connectivity and data exchange. They will always know the status and readiness of their resources and be able to optimise and coordinate intervention during incidents.

However, while centralisation has economic and efficiency benefits, it also makes us vulnerable. We must ensure resilience and security. When everything is interconnected it is more vulnerable. For example, a decentralised energy network with every house and building generating its own power can withstand an attack better than a centralised electricity network. An attacker would not be able to destroy society by knocking out power stations or power lines. They would have to knock out individual buildings or smaller areas, which is much harder. Likewise, a firefighter may find they have to fight a fire without contacting central control. Central control also tends toward micro management which often turns out to be a prescription for disaster.

You cannot provide total security, so the question is not just about how to prevent attacks, but how to survive them. Resilience and consequence management are key. Modern technology should not only support networking and connectivity, but also enable individual, autonomous systems that are decentralised.

If I were a city planner, I would invite hackers to try to destroy the city, in simulations of course, to understand the weak points so I can learn how to deal with disruption.

What are the threats and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence?

AI is a way to make sense of things that would otherwise take years to understand. AI can look at many things and so much information at the same time. It’s why AI is so good at medical diagnoses, better than a doctor who cannot memorise everything.

Yet one day, AI will go beyond what we can do intellectually because it is not constrained in the way biological systems are. The use of intelligence by machines is one thing, but humans can offer reasoning and consciousness. We need to decide what the role of AI is if we do not want to end up in a zoo where robots laugh at us.

AI forces us to think about what makes us human and what role we should have in the future. AI gives us fast advice and insights, but like everything there are risks and it depends how you apply AI. We must think about what we want.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Airbus.