Concerns over addictive design, agentic AI and security took centre stage as representatives from industry, policymakers and Hollywood shared their thoughts
Keynote 5: Seeing The Light: Technology, Addiction, and Balance
Day 1 of MWC26 wrapped up with some poignant messaging around digital wellbeing. Given the array of technologies and devices present across the showfloor, it was intriguing (if a little atypical of such an event) to hear speakers recognise the “troubling effects” of unhealthy relationships with smartphones and social media services – particularly as many policymakers around the world consider measures to limit access for children. Aaron Paul (Actor and Producer) stressed that he was not against technology per se, but claimed that “phones were built to be addictive”, going on to praise recent state-level bans of smartphones in schools in the US. Kaiwei Tang (CEO and Co-Founder, Light) echoed much of the same sentiment around smartphone use. Tang argued that phones should serve their purpose as a “tool” that supports the human experience rather than replacing it. Similar to Paul, he encouraged initiatives to reduce children’s smartphone usage, proposing the use of a ‘dumb phone’ instead. Tang explained that children are far more adaptable to change, and tend to quickly acclimatise to not having a smartphone, especially in schools.
Managing the Dark Side of AI: Ethics, Safety, and Trust
The hype and marketing around AI at MWC26 has almost been matched by speakers’ calls for responsibility, security and trust as the technology develops. Eoin Coughlan (Global CTO, IBM) considered that these factors are particularly important with the emergence of agentic AI, which will require constant human oversight – not least to ensure compliance with the different regulatory regimes being implemented in jurisdictions such as the EU and California in the US. This need for a human-centric approach was also referenced by Sylvia Mulinge (CEO, MTN Uganda), who stated that without oversight, errors by AI in network management could lead to a significant degradation of service for her customers. Though he deflected a question on whether AI is “unsecure by design”, Mark Lindsey (VP Engineering, ECG) described technology as inherently fragile, stating that there is fundamental mistrust in the ability of current guardrails to be effective. With consensus though that regulation is a solution to addressing the amplified risks being posed by AI, Jerry Sheehan (Director, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD) was upbeat about international discussions on governance structures, including cross-sector efforts to build common frameworks and definitions for AI, and principles for its use. Alongside technological advancements over the recent years, Sheehan pointed to good progress on the policy front, with more countries working together and moving from deploying AI in principle to in practice. On balance, the panellists considered themselves optimistic about the outlook for AI, with Mulinge dispelling the notion about the technology’s impact on employment, stating that it would only take the jobs of those who don’t know how to use it.
Keynote 8: Building The Intelligent World
The fact that Henna Virkkunen’s (EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, EC) address was rescheduled due to global events reflected the emphasis on security at MWC26; however, her material did not arguably meet the high expectations. Virkkunen began by explaining how connectivity is now as much about competitiveness on the world stage as it is about connectivity itself. She stated that Europe is too fragmented with different authorisation regimes, which slows down operators’ ability to grow and scale across borders. The recently proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) was offered as a means to simplify and harmonise rules to help achieve the single market. Trust (which was a buzzword from Day 1), was positioned as an essential part of Europe’s resilience. The recently announced Cybersecurity Act was positioned as a way of achieving this ambition, the importance of which was underlined given the current geopolitical uncertainties.
