Essential digital technologies are critical infrastructure – they are not always built and managed that way

A former supercomputer center director argues in this essay that digital services like search engines, social media and AI tools function as critical infrastructure comparable to water systems and power grids, yet lack equivalent safeguards. She points to Flint's 2014 lead contamination and Puerto Rico's 2024 New Year's Eve blackout as examples of what happens when critical infrastructure fails the public.

The essay contends that opportunistic search rankings, social media misinformation and unsafe AI recommendations amount to a similar kind of infrastructure failure, just without the public health inspections that govern restaurants or the redundancy requirements built into power plants. It calls for more transparency about how platforms rank content, profile users and use personal data.

The author, drawing on her own book, proposes design-stage safeguards, using self-driving cars as a future example where planning now could prevent public risk later.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.