Nadine Hack, CEO beCause Global Consulting connects: individuals & enterprises to core purpose; across silos; with external stakeholders.
Much has been written about the power of artificial intelligence to improve life in myriad ways, but also about its truly horrible effects—now and going forward—if it isn’t managed properly. It is imperative that every aspect of society, particularly all businesses and industries, in concert with government, take heed now because our ability to connect and function with AI is only as good as our ability to control its negative impacts.
Most of us love the ways technology enhances our connection with family, friends and colleagues in ways once unimaginable. I talk to my grandchildren via FaceTime weekly; my workmates and I share ideas regularly via Zoom calls; my peers learn about what’s going on in my life via social media posts, and I learn about theirs.
But we’re also frustrated when bots try to communicate with us or even sabotage us, or when a convoluted online form (e.g., placing orders, making complaints) is unbearable to navigate and we can’t reach a real person to help us.
As business leaders, it is our responsibility to take a proactive role in the ethical, practical and humane development and implementation of technology, including AI.
Fortunately, there are innovative ways we can address or even circumvent some of the challenges of AI communication and activity. A New York Times op-ed by Greg Jensen and Nir Bar Dea, both of Bridgewater Associates, offers great insight and direction: “We have a short window to ensure we protect human work and give every citizen a stake in AI success.”
They advocate two things that are essential for AI policy in order to make society resilient to disruption and avert technological catastrophe: “Tax policy must stop disincentivizing human labor over machine labor. Because only human labor is taxed, the scale is tipped toward substitution. A consumption tax on AI tokens may flip this script. Revenue raised by a token tax can further lower income taxes on humans. And it could be used to help fund a program to acquire stakes in AI companies to share with all citizens.”
Indeed, a token tax could be a boon to human labor. There’s also more businesses can do to make certain that AI companies’ motivation is to help us have real interactions with real people in real time, free from the fear of being watched by Big Brother following our every click.
There are examples of companies that use AI responsibly. Multimodal cites key takeaways that I’m aligned with: “Ethical AI companies emphasize research transparency, safety, accountability, and the alignment of AI with human values. Collaboration among various stakeholders, including governments, academia, and private companies, is essential for developing and implementing ethical AI practices. Addressing data bias, ensuring privacy, and promoting human-centric AI design are critical components of responsible AI development.”
I agree with Multimodal. I also applaud UNESCO, which has convened a Global Civil Society Organizations and Academic Network on AI Ethics and Policy, an initiative to facilitate advocacy, knowledge exchange and collaboration to widen civil society participation in global AI governance. And Sage Research Methods has identified several important watchdog organizations—and we need them.
Among them, I’m particularly aligned with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. They work to ensure that the digital environment promotes human agency, dignity and genuine connection. I also appreciate the work of emerging leaders such as Kartik Sakthivel, Falodun Daniel, Daniyan Titilayo, Michael Fry and others. They are redefining the boundaries of technology, AI, accessibility, blockchain and sustainability.
Does your company have an AI policy? If you don’t know, please ask about it. Evaluate its trust and transparency, ethical principles and guidelines, responsibility and accountability, bias and fairness, safety and security, adaptability and continuous learning and, at the least, legal and regulatory compliance. If you find that your organization isn’t following these principles or doesn’t have an AI policy at all, consider contacting one of the resources I noted above.
In addition, business leaders should be aware of and take advantage of local and national governments that hold summits on the responsible use of AI. The UN convenes an annual Global Dialogue on AI Governance. Consider attending these meetings and encouraging others from your company, especially top decision-makers, to participate. You stand to learn best practices and can contribute to shaping them. In fact, consider asking your business to host its own gathering, inviting all employees to join in—whether on site or via livestream—so that your enterprise can be at the cutting edge of how we can connect better and more safely.
If, in spite of everything I’ve written (and everything you know to be true about the vital pros and cons of AI), you ask: “Why is this my responsibility?” I answer you with the well-known saying, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” No matter what products we make or services we provide, humankind is our base business—and we dare not turn it over to artificial intelligence without our guidance and permission.
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