Human augmentation refers to the use of technology to enhance a person’s cognitive and physical experiences. Examples range from miners using wearables to improve worker safety to exploiting information and applications to enhance learning or new experiences.

Physical augmentation will change the physical capability by implanting or hosting a technology within or on the body, while cognitive augmentation enhances a human’s ability to think and make better decisions. Enterprises of all types and sizes are considering human augmentation to achieve various business outcomes. Human augmentation will be a primary means by which individuals interact with each other and with the smart spaces around them.

There are five major areas businesses must look at when choosing human augmentation technologies including security. This is risk is across an attack surface that’s no longer tied to a specific device or physical location but will travel with the person. The other major areas including data privacy, government and regulatory compliance, potential long-term mental and physical health impacts, and serious ethical issues.

Transparency And Traceability

The modern IT world has created a trust crisis, said Gartner, as consumers are now becoming more aware of how their data is being collected and used. Artificial intelligence and machine learning to make autonomous decisions are increasingly used to make decisions in place of humans which drives the need for ideas like explainable AI governance.

By 2025, 30 percent of government and large enterprise contracts for purchase of AI products and services will require the use of explainable and ethical AI, according to Gartner.

Legislation such as European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation is being implemented around the world as people begin to lay the ground rules for organizations. Gartner said transparency and traceability are critical elements to support digital ethics and privacy needs around personal and an organization’s information.