Anjali Joshi is a senior engineering and product management executive with experience leading teams to develop and launch large-scale, complex consumer and business products and services. She has a broad technology background and has worked in the areas of search, maps, news, health, broadband services, language technologies, software/networking infrastructure, cloud platform, and computing services. She is a board member/director at several technology companies where her focus is to help with company strategy and product development. Joshi joined the Ethics Center Advisory Board in April of 2023.
One of Anjali’s main focuses now as an expert in her field is considering the ethical implications of technology’s rapid development and promoting ways for large corporations to combat these challenges. An increasingly prevalent issue she sees in her work is the impact technology has on its consumers’ mental health. “Often we may not be ill intentioned, but sometimes the products and features that we build have unexpected effects on society, and we need to make more conscious decisions around these unintended consequences. This is becoming more and more important as so many more people are using online products, whose effects are mostly on mental health and less on the physical symptoms so prevalent with more tangible products. But mental health issues are much harder to detect and much harder to pin down so I think it’s critical to consider these issues. ”
Joshi offers her wisdom to corporations and future developers, stating that they should not rely on external regulation to provide basic outlines on ethical consumption. Rather, practitioners within these companies should create policy that is specific to them and their respective products and services. She believes this to be where technology development should be heading in terms of its relationship with consumers and therefore ensuring a positive user experience. “Technology is changing faster than human habits and human propensity to actually understand the effects that they are having… but being more aware of how people use this technology is something that we should pay attention to.”
Anjali is hopeful about the next generation of technology developers and how the Ethics Center’s values will guide them toward positive outcomes. “There are so many issues that are boiling up and it’s almost unfair to lay it solely on the shoulders of future generations, but I do think that they are also very capable and will take the right approaches in these types of things. I think it’s important that future generations are aware, conscious, and intentional while also being pragmatic in terms of understanding the consequences of what they are doing. I think we should all support them, give them the benefit of learning and experience, and arm them for the next stages of their career and life.”