Auf Wiedersehen, Vienna!

What an amazing few days.

It is one of the great privileges of my role that I represent the people of 普华永道 at events like TEDAI. So much was packed into a few days that I’m writing a full article - something I rarely do - to share my observations as well as highlight some of the thinking shared by fellow panelists and speakers in Vienna.

My first observation isn’t about AI at all: ?This was my first visit to Vienna, and I waited far too long to visit the city. The TEDAI team put together an opening night Gala that introduced us to the beauty, culture and artistry that is so infused into Vienna that you feel it even as you walk along the city’s streets. The Gala, which included music and a spectacular performance of the Vienna Waltz, sparked a sense of discovery and possibility that set the tone for the conference discussions to follow.

On Day 1, Workshops and “playgrounds” immersed attendees in the power and promise of AI, and panel discussions debated both the challenges and potential solutions to the key issues we’re facing in AI: the role of regulation, the ethical implications of the expanding use of AI, the implications to our systems of healthcare around the world, and so much more. It highlighted an important truth: you can’t just talk about this technology, you need hands-on experimentation and innovation. True understanding requires discovery and engagement.

I’m biased of course, but a highlight for me was the panel “How to protect our digital future,” where my good friend and fellow PwC partner Mary Shelton Rose discussed the vast implications of security, privacy and compliance in the Age of Intelligence alongside her fellow panelist Jonas Andrulis , Founder and CEO of Aleph Alpha . Cybersecurity thought leader Mikko Hypponen was a phenomenal panel moderator. Mary shared her own recap and I encourage you to check out her post.

Speaking of phenomenal moderators, I had the privilege of joining Michael Naylor who served as our moderator for a discussion on “AI’s Role in Accelerating Sustainable Growth.”? Michael facilitated a candid and robust discussion with me and three other thought leaders from diverse fields: Rama Akkiraju from NVIDIA, Christian Boos from SAP and Jason Slater from UNIDO. We talked about the opportunity, and the optimism we all have for the power this technology to unlock growth in the long term. But we also discussed the significant challenges organizations and individuals will face as skills, tasks, jobs and economic value shift during this time of transition.?

I shared my takeaways in an earlier post, but after reflecting further on that conversation one thought has become even more clear: the innovators, investors and leaders in this space share the responsibility to help get this right. We have to make sure we’re not talking about these problems as if someone else will solve them.?? ?

This will require us to make smart investments to help ensure “disruption” yields growth and opportunity - for our organizations and our people. And we need to do what we can to help those impacted by the disruption access the skills and the support to advance, not fall behind. The conversation reminded me of the purpose we strive toward at PwC: “To build trust in society and solve important problems.” Getting AI right could not be more important. And it won’t work without trust. Now, about trust ... ?

“When AI erodes truth, it erodes trust.”

This was one of the most powerful statements made during our days together, and it came from Cara Hunter , member of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. I won’t attempt to share her story here – it's her story to tell – but her courageous talk on Saturday reminded all of us that these issues of trust and truth aren’t just about systems, technology and organizations, they’re also about people. She concluded her talk with a call to all of us to “eliminate bias and install empathy” in AI powered systems, and she went on to say that with the right controls and governance, “AI can be aligned with human values and human principles.”

Later in the day, my co-panelist Rama returned to the stage to talk about the challenge of AI deployment in the enterprise, and she set out the FACTS for us: ?Freshness, Architecture, Cost/Economics, Testing Cycles and Security.? Her pneumonic describes the fundamental building blocks that enterprise architects, CIOs, CTOs and Chief AI Officers need to consider as they continue the development and deployment of AI tools and tech across the enterprise. Flexibility in architecture and the importance of governing your enterprise data (key to the targeted small language models that will fuel enterprise deployment) were key takeaways for me. Rama concluded by gently reminding us that with all the expectations on AI, most enterprises are still living with complicated infrastructure and application estates … so a little empathy for our enterprise developers is probably in order!?

While I won’t cover all the speakers, it would be impossible to talk about the highlights of Day 2 without talking about Chris Turner, comedian and free-style wrapper.? I’ll admit it ... I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But then again, it was a Saturday afternoon in Vienna, and bringing a talented artist like Chris to the stage is a great example of how TED moves your mind and opens your thinking. Chris held a rap battle with ChatGPT, and ... yes, I know how that sounds ... it was amazing.? His performance gave us a unique insight into the power of ChatGPT, but perhaps even greater insight into the creative power of the human mind (Chris was the hands-down winner).? It was a performance that caused the audience to ask for an unprecedented encore performance at the end of a very full day.

Our sessions continued with a vision of a more efficient and powerful approach to AI models - liquid foundation models - the work of Ramin Hasani and his team at Liquid AI.? After discussions earlier in the day about the natural resource consumption challenges GenAI models create, more powerful models producing better results with less power consumption was a welcome and compelling vision.

The last word (other than Chris’ encore performance) was Jürgen Schmidhuber , Scientific Director at Swiss AI Lab IDSIA. There were so many takeaways from his powerful talk … if you’re not following the work of Juergen and his team, I’d highly recommend you give him a click. Juergen’s work in the early 1990s laid the foundations for neural networks and natural language processing that are fueling the transformation we’re all living in today. He talked about the rapidly developing integration of AI into robotics – the transition of AI from the digital world to the physical world. The future he painted was fascinating, and his predictions on how quickly our collective world will change as this technology progresses were equally so.? As I tried to process all he was sharing, he deadpanned that he was just describing to all of us the future he described to his mother when he was in his teens. I can only imagine what his mother thought.

TEDAI Vienna was a reminder that we’re all running to keep up. For all I learned, my key takeaway is a simple one: ?there has never been a time where the concepts of continuous learning and agility have been more important.?

Keep leaning in. Keep asking questions. Keep asking for clarity, even if you fear you’re the only one that doesn’t get it. Keep playing with the tools, and experimenting with the innovations. Keep listening to the podcasts and reading the articles. There may be a few exceptional minds that have perfect clarity on what happens next, but for the rest of us, we’re faced with the task of translating all we are learning into the practical decisions we need to make every day. To make effective decisions - for ourselves, our teams and our organizations – we need to keep striving for better understanding.

I remain even more convinced after Vienna that AI has the power to transform and improve lives, business and society. The “green shoots” are already starting to show as organizations start to look beyond productivity gains and start acting on broader business process and model reinvention.

But as the opportunities evolve, so do the challenges. As my friend and fellow partner Dan Priest often says in his role as 普华永道 US Chief AI Officer, the world of AI is full of “skeptics, pragmatists and optimists.”? I am an optimist at heart when it comes to the sustainable economic growth and societal improvement this moment promises. But Dan’s observation also calls all of us to keep the “eyebrow raised” and stay focused on addressing and solving for the risks with the same energy and discipline with which we pursue the rewards.

I’m grateful for the learning at TEDAI Vienna and for the opportunity to be in the room with such amazing thought leaders from around the world. Congratulations and thank you to Alina Nikolaou , Vlad Gozman and their incredible team for creating and curating such an exceptional experience.

Our TEDAI Partnership continues! Up next: Dan and our US team kick off shortly at TEDAI San Francisco . If you want to hear more, click to follow Dan Priest , Jennifer Kosar and Julia Lamm who will share all their takeaways from the City by the Bay!