Decoding tomorrow's tech, today

Dear tech friends,

Welcome to the latest edition of?BCG X Files, our monthly tech-focused BCG X LinkedIn newsletter.?

The realm of AI is evolving at an unprecedented rate, fundamentally reshaping our roles as citizens, employees, consumers, students, patients, and leaders, while becoming an integral part of every tool that we use.

Across various industries, AI presents an immense opportunity for the vast majority of our clients who are willing to embrace it. It enables them to overcome limitations, unlock growth, and enhance their capabilities. The future of AI and GenAI is unfolding right now, and those who begin adopting this technology today will be at the forefront of the most significant transformations in the future.

At BCG X, we're building tomorrow, and we are truly dedicated to helping companies achieve their goals through innovation and technology – and our products are a key part of that. From AI transformation to marketing personalization, carbon reduction, to supply chain management, and more – be sure check our product pages here .

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Enjoy!?

-Sylvain Duranton, Global Leader of BCG X

How CIOs Can Create Value with Generative AI | BCG - 8 min read

Companies should deploy GenAI in the tech function first to unlock efficiencies and then reinvest those savings to accelerate companies’ digital and data journeys. Big tech companies have long deployed their innovations internally first. Others should follow suit to seize on GenAI’s potential.

Generative AI in the Finance Function of the Future | BCG - 8 min read

Finance teams are currently using the technology to augment existing processes by creating text and conducting research. Now is the time for CFOs to learn about the applications of generative AI that will have the most impact and prepare to capitalize on emerging capabilities.

Why We Need to Be Realistic About Generative AI’s Economic Impact | World Economic Forum - 6 min read

Generative AI is full of credible promise, but does it have the same “general purpose” application in the economy that the Internet had? Perhaps one day it will, but likely with long lags. Large productivity shifts are driven by cost reduction —generative AI can do this, but the likely macroeconomic impact should not be overstated.

Chinese ChatGPT Alternatives Just Got Approved for the General Public | MIT Technology Review - 4 min read

Baidu, one of China’s leading AI companies, has announced it would open up access to its ChatGPT-like large language model, Ernie Bot, to the general public. Chinese companies need to obtain approval from authorities before they can release generative AI experiences to the public, and Baidu is one of the first to get the green light.

Identifying AI-Generated Images With SynthID | Google Deepmind Blog - 5 min read

Google Cloud has introduced SynthID, a tool developed in collaboration with Google DeepMind, aimed at watermarking and identifying AI-generated images, making use of an imperceptible digital watermark embedded into the image pixels for identification purposes, allowing users to distinguish AI-created content from authentic media while promoting responsible use of generative AI technologies.

Reskilling in the Age of AI | Harvard Business Review - 3 min read

As the pace of technological change continues to increase, millions of workers may need to be not just upskilled but reskilled. Companies have a critical role to play in addressing this challenge, but few have taken it seriously. In collaboration with Harvard Business School’s Digital Reskilling Lab, BCG's Henderson Institute has interviewed leaders from 40 organizations around the world that are investing in large-scale reskilling programs.

Everyone Wants Responsible AI, But Few People Are Doing Anything About It | ZDNet - 4 min read

73% of business leaders say AI guidelines are indispensable. However, just 6% have established such guidelines in their companies. The article highlights key guidelines to overcome a leadership gap when it comes to making responsible AI a reality.

Why America Is Betting on Carbon Removal | Los Angeles Times - 3 min read

The Biden administration has recently unveiled a substantial investment exceeding $1.2 billion to establish infrastructure and a new industry for direct air capture (DAC). This funding is dedicated to launching the initial two Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs, located in Texas and Louisiana, with each DAC facility anticipated to annually remove over 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air. This technology is set to be the largest deployment of carbon removal ever.

Harnessing Human and Machine Intelligence for Planetary-Level Climate Action | Nature - 25 min read

The pursuit of more advanced AI systems with global implications is poised to reshape job markets, governance structures, and climate action pathways. This paper advocates for a less biased AI system that aligns with an "epistemic web" of planetary health challenges, proposing a human-in-the-loop AI model to contribute to climate action, facilitate mitigation and adaptation interventions, and rectify data injustices associated with AI training datasets.

AI Can Predict Certain Forms of Esophageal and Stomach Cancer | Michigan Medicine - 3 min read

A sharp rise in esophageal and stomach cancer rates in the US and other western countries has prompted researchers, including Joel Rubenstein, M.D., M.S., to develop an automated AI tool, K-ECAN, that predicts an individual's risk of developing these cancers by analyzing readily available electronic health record (EHR) data, potentially enabling earlier detection and prevention measures and reducing the burden of these cancers.?

AI-discovered Drugs Will Be For Sale Sooner Than You Think | Vox - 11 min read

Researchers at MIT harnessed AI to discover an antibiotic named halicin, which has the potential to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as E. coli and Acinetobacter baumannii, offering a more rapid and effective drug discovery process that could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry and address the growing issue of drug-resistant diseases.?

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