Businesses must always protect their customers, stakeholders, and employeesfrom legal trouble, including lawsuits and civil prosecution that may result when using emerging technology. Emerging technology use in business can be risky from a legal perspective because the technology has not been fully tested and all impacts studied. How will customers react to the technology? Can the technology harm a customer or an employee? Could the technology lead to lawsuits that could create financial harm to the business, owners, and stakeholders? One of the emerging technology trends that could create legal implications for a business is intelligent interfaces. Intelligent interfaces, like touch screens and voice command, have already changed the way we use technology. Voice command technology has already had legal difficulties for the businesses that implemented the technology in their devices. Amazon has a voice recognition technology based on artificial intelligence called Alexa, which is a smart device called Echo. Amazon Echo, if used in business, could create a legal issue. Echo devices record your words and send them to a server at Amazon where they are analyzed to see if you said Alexa. Since the devices record a person without their knowledge, using the devices in business will violate laws in many states that prohibit recording people without their consent. New intelligent interfaces will go much further when they appear in business. Some of the emerging intelligent interfaces will be able to detect human heart rates using thermal imaging in smart devices. In business, a customer or employee would never know they are being studied. A customer’s reaction could be monitored for excitement about a product. Imagine walking around a car dealership, and the dealership personnel being able to know which car the customer is interested in prior to being told by the customer. Buying a car is a negotiation for the best deal, so excitement should not be shown if you want to make a good deal. Stores could also use this technology to detect people stealing by looking for accelerated heart rate, which may reveal deception. This technology used in business could create lawsuits for invasion of privacy. Another emerging technology that could create legal implications for businesses is the prediction of human behavior. Artificial intelligence in the form of deep learning could study data gathered about people to make predictions about future behavior. For business, understanding how a customer or employee will behave could be very helpful. Knowing what a customer may want to purchase ahead of speaking with that customer could provide unique marketing opportunities. Customers could file lawsuits for invasion of privacy against businesses using this type of technology. Another example of using this technology in business that could create legal implications is screening potential employees. The ability to predict an applicant's likelihood of being absent or la ...

1. Businesses must always protect their customers, stakeholders,
and employeesfrom legal trouble, including lawsuits and civil
prosecution that may result when using emerging technology.
Emerging technology use in business can be risky from a legal
perspective because the technology has not been fully tested and
all impacts studied. How will customers react to the
technology? Can the technology harm a customer or an
employee? Could the technology lead to lawsuits that could
create financial harm to the business, owners, and stakeholders?
One of the emerging technology trends that could create legal
implications for a business is intelligent interfaces. Intelligent
interfaces, like touch screens and voice command, have already
changed the way we use technology. Voice command
technology has already had legal difficulties for the businesses
that implemented the technology in their devices. Amazon has a
voice recognition technology based on artificial intelligence
called Alexa, which is a smart device called Echo. Amazon
Echo, if used in business, could create a legal issue. Echo
devices record your words and send them to a server at Amazon
where they are analyzed to see if you said Alexa. Since the
devices record a person without their knowledge, using the
devices in business will violate laws in many states that prohibit
recording people without their consent.
New intelligent interfaces will go much further when they
appear in business. Some of the emerging intelligent interfaces
will be able to detect human heart rates using thermal imaging
in smart devices. In business, a customer or employee would
never know they are being studied. A customer’s reaction could
be monitored for excitement about a product. Imagine walking
around a car dealership, and the dealership personnel being able

2. to know which car the customer is interested in prior to being
told by the customer. Buying a car is a negotiation for the best
deal, so excitement should not be shown if you want to make a
good deal. Stores could also use this technology to detect
people stealing by looking for accelerated heart rate, which may
reveal deception. This technology used in business could create
lawsuits for invasion of privacy.
Another emerging technology that could create legal
implications for businesses is the prediction of human behavior.
Artificial intelligence in the form of deep learning could study
data gathered about people to make predictions about future
behavior. For business, understanding how a customer or
employee will behave could be very helpful. Knowing what a
customer may want to purchase ahead of speaking with that
customer could provide unique marketing opportunities.
Customers could file lawsuits for invasion of privacy against
businesses using this type of technology.
Another example of using this technology in business that could
create legal implications is screening potential employees. The
ability to predict an applicant's likelihood of being absent or
late to work can be used as a factor during the hiring process.
The technology could also be used to predict the probability
that a female employee would be seeking maternity leave.
Similarly, technology might predict a potential employee’s
retirement timeframe. If a business uses these predictions to
make hiring or termination decisions, legal troubles may result.
Federal laws include many guidelines for hiring and termination
that businesses must follow. A business that discriminates in
hiring or terminating based on predicted behaviors could face
litigation.
Many of the emerging technologiesgather, store, and analyze
data on individuals. Businesses that have this data must secure
it. Businesses can be held legally liable for revealing data,

3. hacking, and data theft. Business like Amazon have already
faced subpoenas for their data stored from the Echo where
crimes might have been recorded.
In summary
· Emerging technologies used in business can create legal
implications.
· Intelligent interfaces could create legal troubles, including
violations of privacy laws.
· Emerging technology prediction of human behavior by
machines could create legal violations of numerous laws,
depending on how it is used.
· Data gathered, stored, and analyzed must be protected to
minimize a business’ risk of legal troubles and lawsuits.
Intelligent Interfaces
Maggie, a psychologist, installed Amazon Echo in her office so
she can keep track of client appointments and play music during
certain types of sessions. She was concerned by a news report
that the device records conversations and saves them on
Amazon's servers. Maggie's clients discuss personal events,
sensitive information, and intimate details of their lives. They
count on her to keep their sessions confidential and the APA
demands it as well. Maggie and healthcare professionals like
her would lose their licenses for recording or sharing private
sessions without patient consent.
AI and Customers
Rajan uses an app to collect information from tourists so he can
tailor tours to their interests. The app also collects information
that makes it easy to predict customer behavior and market
other products and services by leveraging information the
customers didn't know they were providing. He has even had the
opportunity to sell this information to other business owners.
Invading privacy using AI is unethical and could be an illegal
invasion of privacy.

4. AI and Hiring
Sarah is Director of HR in a large healthcare organization.
Hiring the wrong person is costly, so Sarah is excited to
implement an AI that assesses applicants via their application
documents, a questionnaire, and their social media. The AI is
supposed to accurately predict the applicant's fit for the
organization, attendance habits, even future retirement age.
Sarah is concerned though about EEOC compliance as well of
local and state laws that protect groups of people who have
historically been discriminated against.
Data Storage and Protection
Even though Metrix Media and Marketing Inc. collects
consumer data legally; the founding partners are concerned
about data breaches that would put tens of thousands of files in
the hands of cyber criminals. Each file contains a person's
name, date of birth, social security number, and credit card or
banking information. If Metrix is lax in protecting the collected
data, they can be held legally responsible for endangering
consumers by putting them at risk for identity theft and
financial loss.
Are There Ethical Components of Emerging Technology in
Business?
Businesses needcustomers, employees, and investors to have
confidence in its integrity. Any ethical scandal can damage that
confidence. Emerging technology can pose an ethical risk for
businesses, which could permanently damage its reputation and
customer confidence. Since emerging technology is new and
untested, businesses should be very cautious about
implementing them, which may create ethical concerns.
One of the emerging technologies that creates ethical issues for
businesses is personalized and contextualized marketing.

5. Personalized or contextualized marketing studies data gathered
about an individual by smart devices and provides
individualized marketing recommendations. This emerging
technology uses artificial intelligence to study human behavior
to make predictions about future purchases.
A business that knows what customers may want to purchase
can create individualized marketing. An insurance company
could monitor a customer’s driving behaviors, without
permission, through their smart phone and market products only
to the people who have less risky driving behaviors. Drivers
that have risky driving behaviors, like speeding and hard
braking, would not be marketed to for insurance services. Is that
ethical? The individual that is determined to be risky just
because a child needed to get to the hospital quickly is going to
find this technology unethical.
According to the blog “Ethical Advertising in the Intelligent
Era” (Arin, 2019), consumers find it unethical to use data to do
personalized marketing. Arin (2019) states that 59% of
consumers view personalized ads on social media as unethi cal,
mainly because their browsing data is being used to create these
without their permission. Using this new technology may result
in some new customers but at the same time make many
customers think the business is unethical. Businesses must
remember that customers feel that violating their right to
privacy is unethical.
Another emerging technology that could create ethical issues if
used by businesses is intelligent interfaces on smart devices.
Smart devices can gather so much data now, but in the future,
intelligent interfaces will be able to gather so much more.
Businesses will be able to monitor a person’s heartbeat using
thermal imaging. Those businesses could discover from that
data a person’s feelings about almost anything. These devices
could reveal excitement, deception, or dissatisfaction.

6. Customers of a business using these technologies will find this
unethical. Some customers and people, in general, like to keep
their feelings private. Businesses must use this emerging
technology with caution, as more people may not want to be a
customer of businesses that do.
In an article by Brusoni and Vaccaro (2017), implementation of
innovations in business could present ethical issues. Many
businesses are using emerging technologies to gather, store, and
analyze data. Technology that should be “ethically neutral” can
be viewed as unethical depending on how the business uses it
(Brusoni & Vaccaro, 2017). The values of the person affected
by the technology will affect whether it is viewed as ethical or
unethical (Brusoni & Vaccaro, 2017). Customers or employees
of a business that value their privacy will find emerging
technology that gathers, stores, and analyzes their data for self-
beneficial purposes, like marketing, unethical.
Another emerging technology is called computer vision
technology. Computer vision technology can be used to analyze
photos, as well as, do face recognition. The technology is
currently used in many smart devices for the purpose of
biometrics. Some new smart phones can open your phone based
on your face. This technology is predicted to be used more in
surveillance applications. A camera on a street could be used to
identify people just walking down the street. Some people feel
this is an invasion of privacy and very unethical. Some people
also worry this could be used to target individuals.
In summary
Businesses must use caution when implementing emerging
technology because of ethical considerations
· Technology should be viewed as ethically neutral.
· The values of the individual affect the view of the technology
being ethical or unethical.

7. Contextualized Marketing
Rashida watched a video on social media about careers in UX
design. An hour later, the ads on her web browser changed to
include several for UX design courses and degrees. When she
opened a popular video sharing site, the suggested videos were
focused on creating a UX portfolio and breaking into UX.
Rashida felt spied on and did not appreciate this blatant use of
browsing data to target her. Businesses must not cross the line
from personalized to creepy as consumers are savvy and they
know when they are being targeted.
Intelligent Interface
Imagine knowing that a potential customer's heartrate sped up
while she looked at the red truck and slowed when she looked at
the blue compact car. Having this data on a phone or tablet
could be as close to mind reading as a salesperson can hope for.
On the other hand, the customer has a right to share her feelings
about products when and if she chooses. There is a real
potential for misunderstanding her reaction to a truck similar to
the one that hit her years ago and to a car similar to her first
beloved automobile. Business is about relationships and the
emerging tech needs to support not replace those relationships
and the communication that builds them.
Computer Vision Technology
Lionel found it annoying and offensive that the hand dryer in
the men's room did not detect his hands but turned on
immediately for his Caucasian coworkers. After this glitch

8. became common knowledge in the office, people joked about it,
but it highlights the fact that vision technology is only as
effective as the images fed into it while it is being trained to
see. And, this technology is subject to the biases of those
training it.
References
· Arin, P. (2019). Ethical Advertising in the Intelligent Era
[Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.adperfect.com/ethical -
advertising-in-the-intelligent-era/
· Brusoni, S., & Vaccaro, A. (2017). Ethics, technology and
organizational innovation. Journal of Business Ethics, 143, 223-
226. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=
ip,shib&db=keh&AN=123577486&site=eds-
live&custid=s9076023