Toward a Model Code for Digital Safety

Policy Brief No. 191

October 18, 2024

Although standards are being published to address privacy, cybersecurity and high-risk artificial intelligence, more needs to be done to address digital harms. Stakeholders are playing catch-up with a tsunami of new, unproven digital technologies, and standards are developed after the fact. One approach gaining traction is the development of a model code for digital safety. This code would define a set of core values that should be embedded in new digital technologies in order to prevent harms from occurring in the first place. This would replicate what stakeholders have been doing for close to 100 years to ensure the safety of the built environment.

About the Author

Michel Girard is a CIGI senior fellow and an expert in the area of standards for big data and artificial intelligence.