“Novel technologies like Gen AI and unconventional computing present us with exciting tools to tackle the future…but we need to be innovative in our approach to regulation” – Interview with Stuart Matthews, Capgemini

Posted on October 28, 2025

The High Integrity Software Conference (HISC) – brought to you by AdaCore and Capgemini – is a unique gathering of software engineering practitioners from all safety critical domains.

With panels, exhibitions, and lightning talks from industry leaders, attendees will walk away with exclusive insights and important techniques applicable across industry sectors.

In this blog, Stuart Matthews, Senior Architect in the Embedded Software team at Capgemini Engineering and Co-Chair of the HISC Programme Committee, shares his thoughts on the emerging technologies reshaping high integrity software, the challenges of ensuring safety and security in critical systems, and the vital role of innovative regulation and industry collaboration in building trustworthy, resilient software for the future.

What is the most disruptive trend shaping the future of high-integrity software today?

It has to be Generative AI (Gen AI). This technology offers a potential step-change in productivity for the development of software-based systems, as amply demonstrated by tools like GitHub Copilot. However, in the domain of critical systems our concern remains primarily to achieve a high level of assurance: build the right system and avoid introducing vulnerabilities.

What’s one challenge in high integrity software that keeps you up at night, and how are you tackling it?

The key challenge is how we can use Gen AI to produce software for critical applications that is safe, secure, and demonstrably meets the assurance levels expected for such applications. Formal Methods (software engineering mathematics) have been shown to be an unparalleled technology for achieving the highest levels of cyber security and safety in the engineering of critical software-based systems. We are tackling the assurance challenge by combining these two techniques: rather than going straight to code we are researching an approach where we use Gen AI to generate a mathematical model of a software applications which can be analysed and checked for desired security & safety properties prior to automatic generation of the code.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to the next generation of engineers entering this field?

There has never been a more exciting time to enter the field of software engineering. Our reliance on software means that there is broad and diverse set of application domains to choose from in your career, whilst novel technologies – like Gen AI and unconventional computing – present us with exciting tools to tackle the future.

How do you see the balance between safety and security evolving in high-integrity software?

Security of safety-related systems (sometimes called “cyber-safety”) has become increasingly important in recent years; this is partly due to the increasing reliance of our CNI on software-based systems and partly due to increasing threats in the global security landscape. This is a trend that is likely to continue. All safety-related systems need to have a robust plan for how security will be built-in to their software architecture.

What’s one innovation or tool you believe will redefine how we build trustworthy systems?

We need to be innovative in our approach to regulation of new technologies. Process-based standards tend to be fixed at a point in time and do not easily accommodate disruptive technologies like Gen AI.

Register now for the High Integrity Software Conference.

The HISC will take place on Thursday 13th November at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Wales.

In addition to sharing exclusive insights and opinions, cross-industry leaders will demonstrate state-of-the-art high assurance software throughout the conference exhibition space. Providing networking opportunities to form new collaborations and disseminate high integrity software-related research.

Register now to avoid disappointment.