The Risks Of A.I.

We also see some negative, often unintended consequences of these technologies. They go from the rise of fake news and algorithms that favour the incendiary and divisive over the factual, to major privacy breaches and AI models that discriminate against minority groups or even cost human lives.

The most successful AI initiatives are close collaborations between data talent, business stakeholders and sponsors, engineers as well as end users who are available to test the solution and send feedback.

Building the right team and upskilling the organisation to enable this kind of coll...

It is helpful for executives to possess a broad understanding of the key stages of an AI initiative and the technical risks at each of these stages. For instance, executives broadly underestimate the amount of data cleansing and preparation that are required for building viable algorithms.

The World Economic Forum, with supporting research from INSEAD’s Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, has created a guide for C-suite executives who are committed to adopting AI technologies effectively and responsibly.

This guide takes the form of questions that executives...

It’s tempting for executives to believe that AI will magically deliver new revenue streams or efficiency gains, but the truth is that AI initiatives ought to undergo the same rigorous business planning as any other project.

An AI initiative should, first and foremost, align with the organis...

Leaders need an understanding of the long-term impact – both positive and negative – of the algorithms they build and deploy.

It’s by no means a charted path; success is as much about asking the right questions, keeping an open mind and being aware of the key issues at stake, as it is abou...

AI also raises questions of accountability. Who is responsible:

• When a driverless car crashes?
• In a lawsuit claiming unfair hiring informed by AI algorithms?
• When the wrong medical treatment is prescribed because an AI diagnostic system contained errors?
• For a l...

The organisations that mitigate these risks best are those that build on their own ethical standards and gateways throughout the AI lifecycle, from how they collect and prepare data, to how they build, test and deploy models.

Those that adopt new data and AI risk management practices, pro...