Tech for good, evil and companionship at Web Summit

The future-of-tech conversations at Web Summit  in Lisbon could have played on a split screen. In one frame, fraught forecasts of ill-used technology leaving real-world damage; in another, glowing predictions of a digitally-enhanced future. “Russia puts technology at the service of terror,” said Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska before showing photos of the destruction left across Ukraine by Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones. “For 150 years, what we have seen is technology increasingly put civilians in harm’s way,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said after announcing that the company would continue all of its digital aid to Ukraine through 2023, adding $100 million to its $300 million in help so far. Sitting beside him, Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Microsoft for its assistance in thwarting cyberattacks against civilian infrastructure, a weaponization of networking technology Smith decried in previous Summit talks. Social media, often a punching bag, took more hits this year. In a panel on the state of journalism, speakers lamented how many younger would-be readers instead rely on TikTok for news but had no good answers about how to get them back. “This is what happens when you abandon audiences,” said James Ball, global editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.