Tackling AI’s Unintended Consequences
Whether or not they know it, nearly everyone has had an experience that exposes just how dependent we have become on artificial intelligence (AI). It often comes in the back seat of a car.
That’s where I was a few months ago, sitting in a rideshare from suburban Scarsdale, New York, to New York City. The driver had recently emigrated from Nepal, and his ability to quickly find work greatly illustrates how ride-sharing platforms open economic opportunities. Once upon a time, my driver would have had to learn the area well before he could drive a customer from place to place. Now AI mapping had him hard at work just weeks after landing.
Organizing for a Digital World
Virtually all large companies, even those in old-line industries such as machinery and agriculture, have gone digital to some extent. But at many companies the efforts are falling far short of their potential. At one Asia-based conglomerate, for instance, digital initiatives have been popping up everywhere, and business units compete for the same digital talent. The company set up a digital incubator off to the side, but it has failed to spark interest with the mainstream divisions, and so creates great proofs of concept that never get embraced at large scale.
As digital continues to upend most business operations and markets, traditional organizations like this conglomerate struggle to cope with the pace of change. Breathless headlines and countless TED Talks suggest that executives should be asking “blow it all up” questions, such as:
