Understanding the ethical and business imperatives of generative AI

But that also means 80,000 people said no.

“As an employer, we have a responsibility,” IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said when explaining his hope to use artificial intelligence tools to help employees become more productive. “How do we train everyone internally to be a user and use that to improve their work?”

Krishna believes that generative AI will greatly impact white-collar jobs, especially those that are prone to automation and repetitive tasks. But as employers continue to increasingly integrate artificial intelligence into the workplace, a larger social challenge emerges: Can everyone make the transition?

“There will be some displacement,” Krishna said. “The question is, what’s the role for those who can’t hit the cognitive curve?”

CEOs come together to seek common development wealth A virtual event discussing the ethical and business imperatives of generative AI agreed that the technology offers huge productivity benefits, but also comes with liabilities that every industry must weigh when investing in AI. But some of the more lofty comments focus on how the world will change.

as Population growth slows In Western countries such as Europe, Japan and the United States, employers may need to rely on the productivity gains brought by artificial intelligence to maintain gross domestic product growth of at least 3% per year to help sustain the economy.

“Since the industrial revolution, problem solving has been a human endeavor,” said Ravi Kumar, CEO of Cognizant. “This is a metamorphosis problem designed specifically for machine problem solving, whereas purposeful problem discovery is a new human endeavor.”

He believes that AI can drive upward social mobility in the workforce and claims that AI can help eliminate pain points in the workplace, ultimately creating a better environment.

“I think generative AI will humanize technology and hand over agency to the end user,” Kumar said.

A recent survey commissioned by The Boston Consulting Group and the MIT Sloan School of Management found that 84% of BCG clients are aware of the risks of artificial intelligence, but only 16% believe they have a mature approach to dealing with them. Risks may also arise from AI influencing work strategies, which may include movie scripts or drug discovery.

“Make sure someone is accountable for it, and it’s at the top of the organization, and don’t delegate it down below,” said Sharon Marcil, chairman, managing director and senior partner of The Boston Consulting Group North America. “Then make sure you embed this risk protection into your risk processes, as well as into core processes like product development, so that it truly becomes a cultural element.”

Many companies are already working to leverage AI to improve specific functions like customer service and marketing, areas where guardrails are less difficult to develop. But if artificial intelligence unknowingly infringes on intellectual property rights, there are many potential liabilities.

Krishna gave the example of a possible customer in the payments industry, where developers use artificial intelligence to create code that may last 20 years. But after 15 years of using the code, someone might discover a potential infringement.

“It’s going to be a deeper set of issues than other areas,” Krishna said. “We’re getting some questions from customers.”

One possible solution? Technology providers must share some responsibilities with customers.

Some are in the early stages of adoption.IKEA Group CEO Jesper Brodin participated in a training session on artificial intelligence with 400 leaders earlier in the day wealth Virtual event – with two more sessions planned to explore the opportunities of artificial intelligence and understand how it fits into business. IKEA already uses generative AI in a variety of ways, but adoption of the technology among retailers is accelerating rapidly.

“By and large, leaders are not there yet,” Brodin said. “That’s why we think it’s important to get everyone involved.”

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), which provides health insurance to 118 million Americans, is also cautious. BCBSA President and CEO Kim Keck must weigh two extremes: the need to put guardrails in place to protect data, but also consider innovation.

“We spent quite a bit of time advancing the guardrails in terms of risk and what the framework would look like,” Keck said.

But when it comes to innovation, BCBSA has to consider paying out $600 billion in claims each year. Greater use of generative artificial intelligence could increase efficiency.

“We are in the early stages of organizational adoption,” said Barak Eilam, chief executive of Israeli software company NICE. “When I talk to clients, we are in the AI ​​FOMO stage: the fear of missing out.”

Eilam warns that the speed and scale of immediate savings that generative AI can achieve are somewhat overestimated. He believes the huge potential lies in changing the mindset of employees and making talent more curious about exploring technology.

Tom Wilson, chairman, president and CEO of Allstate Corporation, sees artificial intelligence as a spectrum. Large language models already exist today, machine-based learning is getting better, and other aspects of artificial intelligence are not yet a reality but will one day be.

“We’re just going further on this scale,” Wilson said. “In terms of the degree of change, the slope is greater than it has been in the past.”

At Allstate, Wilson is considering how to build an AI ecosystem within insurance companies. Some areas are obvious – call centers, for example – and the technology is better developed externally. However, the development of artificial intelligence within Allstate requires a change in the way of thinking, from a technology-supported strategy to a technology-driven strategy.

“For us, it’s more about building capabilities internally that we can’t get externally, and then making sure we build partnerships with people externally who bring us the best ideas,” Wilson said.