Milos Maricic is a distinguished leadership speaker, artificial intelligence thought leader, philanthropist and innovator. He is the Founder of the Altruist League, co-editor of the Routledge Handbook on AI & Philanthropy, and plays a leading role in shaping AI regulation across Europe and beyond.
In this exclusive interview with The AI Speakers Agency, Milos reveals how leaders can harness AI responsibly, embed empathy into technology, and turn disruption into opportunity in a rapidly evolving digital age.
Q: From an investment and innovation standpoint, how can businesses strategically leverage AI to stay ahead of the competition?
Milos Maricic: “Artificial intelligence is all about smart risk-taking and experimenting. As such, AI helps us identify, for example, market risks and opportunities. I’ll give you a very clear example: Netflix uses AI to predict viewer preferences, enabling them to create highly successful original content, like Stranger Things, which my kids adore.
“But it goes beyond that. AI also makes possible tailored innovation. What I mean by that is, instead of targeting psychographics or different market segments, we’re actually targeting individual consumers and clients. Another example: companies like Nike use AI to create customised sneakers through apps, giving customers a really deeply personalised, individualised experience.
“And I think if we look at the C-Suite level, for executives, they are used to using intuition in addition to data science, big data and so on, to take their decisions. AI takes that to the next level because AI can analyse data and make predictions better and faster than a human.
“But it does not have that intuition – that crucial step, that crucial component – that only seasoned and successful executives have. And I think it’s a challenge for them to now incorporate this new, exciting tool into their skill set so that they can out-compete others in the future.”
Q: Ethical risks in AI are now a boardroom concern. What challenges do you see as most pressing for businesses to address?
Milos Maricic: “There are many. It starts with bias and fairness – for example, in recruitment. If we take the case of Amazon, their early AI hiring tool favored male candidates due to historical biases in the data. There are many such examples, and this underscores the need for vigilance in algorithm design to begin with.
“Then there is the question of transparency and trust. The example of Apple: they deployed their Apple Card algorithm, which they used to predict credit rating a few years back, and they had a backlash because the algorithm discriminated against women.
“That sparked a huge debate around explainability of AI – meaning these machines are doing things without us actually understanding how they’re doing it and what reasons they have; what’s inside that black box.
“And the final component is responsibility and oversight. The example there is Facebook, and their failure to curb algorithm-driven misinformation through several election cycles now. The consequences of that are information silos and a greater polarisation of society. So, yes, the risks of AI are definitely multifaceted.”
Q: Looking at industries and society as a whole, what impact is AI already having on jobs, markets, and global dynamics?
Milos Maricic: “In several ways. First of all, we’ve seen a very exciting workforce transformation. Let’s say the introduction of AI by huge companies like Walmart has, on the one hand, reduced the need for some manual tasks – so you’re firing people, AI is taking away jobs – but it has also created new roles in data analytics and system management and so on. So the effect has not been so clear; it’s been quite dynamic.
“Then there’s been the global disruption of industries and supply chains. For example, Airbnb has completely disrupted the global hospitality industry by leveraging AI-driven pricing algorithms, and that has left traditional hotel chains scrambling to adapt.
“But the effect has also been, like I mentioned previously, deeper polarization. Social media platforms like Twitter have been using AI for content creation, and this has amplified political divisions by creating echo chambers. So there have been positive and negative aspects.”
This exclusive interview with Milos Maricic was conducted by Mark Matthews of The Champions Speakers Agency.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
