Marko Bevc: Tech’s Future Is Human: Marko Bevc on AI, Ethics & Leadership

Ahead of his talk at Turing Fest 2025 (May 7th-8th, Edinburgh), Marko Bevc sat down to discuss his thoughts on new technology, the major challenges ahead and the future of tech.

Marko is a Principal Consultant at The Scale Factory, based in the UK. He has worked in the IT industry for more than two decades and engaged with many different technologies. He leads our teams of experienced Consultants helping build and scale customers’ SaaS platforms in AWS Cloud. Marko is also responsible for steering Scale Factory’s technical direction and looking at current industry trends. Being passionate about diversity, equality, automation, Cloud Native and Open Source communities, you can also find Marko speaking and participating at DevOps, Cloud Native/Kubernetes and HashiCorp events. He’s a HashiCorp Ambassador, OpenUK Ambassador, AWS Community Builder, open source contributor, problem solver and enthusiastic about emerging technologies. In his free time Marko enjoys hiking and travelling.

1. What new technology do you believe will have the biggest impact on the product development, marketing or tech world in the next 12 to 24 months?

It seem AI is here to stay and probably that’s going to be most impactful (already is) technology. Probably not in the form we’re seeing today and as soon we pass the hype peak we should see materialising it in human assisted form – not replacing us completely. I If you’re building products or running marketing campaigns, in the next 12–24 months, being AI-native, modular, and privacy-respectful will be the biggest differentiators.

2. Reflecting on your experience, what major challenges do you anticipate product/growth/tech will face in the coming years? How do you think leaders should be preparing themselves and their teams to tackle these challenges?

In the next few years, those who can master both human-centered leadership, business focused outcomes and adoption to new tech will will be best prepared to face upcoming challenges the best.

3. Considering recent advancements in AI, what are yourl thoughts on the ethical implications? From your perspective, what are the critical ethical challenges that need to be addressed as AI becomes more widespread?

Top challenges we need to address:

– Bias and Fairness

– Privacy and Surveillance

– Autonomy and Human Agency

– Economic Displacement

– Misinformation and Manipulation

– Power Concentration

4. From your own experience, how do you see the continuing evolution of remote work and its technologies impacting your own work-life balance?

I can only hope we’ll be able to recognise and cater for both remote-first and voluntary participation in in-person events to grow people centric environment where people can thrive and grow.

Hard one to predict, but mostly I think it’s going to be a challenge to evenly and fairly distribute resources and technological progress across global population.

6. If you could implement changes to the way people work based on your own routines and practices, what specific adjustments would you make to improve productivity or well-being?**

I’d advocate for people-first approach and building respectful environments making sure everyone can get an opportunity to grow.