Reimagining our future: five imperatives for how we get the era of AI right

As a leader in the technology industry, I’ve witnessed a lot of technological innovation in my lifetime. And since the onset of the pandemic, I’ve seen decades of digital transformation squeezed into a few short years. But it’s no comparison to the profound and genuine human impact that I believe generative AI will make in the months and years to come.

As we imagine what’s possible with AI, our comprehensive global AI Readiness Report - detailing key insights from our survey of 3000+ business and IT employees across all levels of the organization – shows that there’s much work to be done to prepare people, processes and platforms for AI and to embrace an ‘AI-first mindset’ across all levels of the organization.

As with all transformative technologies, including generative AI, Avanade has been an early adopter across our business. ?With each technological advancement—and now with generative AI—we ask two fundamental questions: “How do we ensure this technology is used for good?′ and “What can be done to ensure these new digital advancements not only drive business, but also provide real value to our employees and our clients?”

From my perspective as CEO, I see five imperatives as we embark on the era of AI:

#1. Let’s ensure that generative AI is accessible to—and inclusive of—all. I am personally passionate about leaving the technology industry more inclusive, diverse, and equitable than I found it. That extends to generative AI, where we must have more diversity in the teams creating and tuning the models, producing and testing the algorithms and critically reviewing the results for bias.

When the percentage of developers building AI models and solutions largely represent one ethnic, gender and age group, the risk of bias and discrimination in future iterations is too great. How can the technology industry innovate within AI if everyone comes from the same ethnic and demographic background?

I also believe that generative AI has the power to solve some of the world’s biggest problems—whether its combatting climate change, feeding the hungry in our communities, or quickly identifying the first critical steps in mitigating a natural or community disaster. The only way to achieve this is to ensure that non-governmental organizations and non-profits who are leading this work should have the same access to generative AI as the for-profit enterprise.

#2. Recognize that AI is not “one-size fits all.” We’ve helped hundreds of clients around the world begin to experiment with and scale generative AI, and what we tell them is that it has incredible potential to transform the way we go about our work.

We also tell them that while the Large Language Models have dominated the spotlight, it is just one of many other AI models available to the enterprise. Not every organization will want or need Large Language Models to propel them forward. How do business leaders know what’s right for them? They should start with an AI-readiness assessment, which will align their organization’s goals with the type of AI models that are most useful, cost effective and sustainable.

#3. Remember that generative AI will only be as good as the data that fuels it. The old saying, “garbage in, garbage out” has even more relevance in an AI-first world, where data can make or break the outcome of an organization’s AI strategy.

Good data not only leads to better decision making and higher-quality insights, but it’s also critical for a solid AI foundation. To get there will require organizations to do something they’ve never done before: unify data from all parts of their business so that it can produce accurate and meaningful insights for everyone.

There’s much work to be done to get the data strategy right: while 85% of business and IT leaders expect AI to increase revenue growth in the next 18-24 months, 63% lack complete trust in their organization's data.

#4. Let’s keep responsibility, trust and transparency non-negotiable in an AI-first world. Less than half of employees say they completely trust the results produced by AI, which is why we must programmatically embed AI ethics into the organization and processes right now.

It's the reason we’ve applied a responsible AI framework within our own organization and why we’re partnering with Accenture and Microsoft to expand collaboration around the responsible adoption of generative AI.?We know that as generative AI evolves, our responsible AI framework will need to evolve, too. Within that framework, leaders must take steps to continually embed responsible AI policies in their own organization to codify the expectations for people using AI in their roles. Our own AI policy is constantly evolving to identify and address situations – with clients and within our own business - where there may be heightened risks or that warrant special attention and care.

We cannot and should not wait for regulation to guide our decisions with AI. As business leaders, we have a responsibility to understand where AI can fail us in society and within our own organizations. We must take the lead to create responsible AI frameworks that are grounded in our purpose and values to foster trust and transparency for our employees, customers and shareholders.?

#5. Let’s keep people at the center of AI. It’s easy to get lost in what technology can do, like making business processes faster and more efficient or taking mundane tasks off our plate. But we must remember that like every technology before it, the story of generative AI should focus on how it can be used to improve people’s lives.

From my perspective—shared by the majority of business and IT leaders who participated in our research—AI isn’t about replacing people’s jobs; it’s about enabling people to be and do their best. People should be at the center of every use case for AI, answering the question: “how will AI help us to make a genuine human impact?”?

Like it or not, the era of AI has begun.

AI is like any other evolving technology - we have to keep our minds open about how it can and should be used. AI isn’t perfect and there will be continued innovation to address current shortcomings and improve on its strengths. We must commit to honest conversations with our employees and our customers about its appropriate role in commerce, in government, in business and in our communities.

We must relentlessly shine a spotlight on the potential risks of generative AI and address them with honesty and transparency, leaning in with our own responsible AI guardrails and regulation to safeguard our employees and customers. We must ensure that this next technological revolution brings with it more—not less—inclusivity and diversity. Then, we’ll be able to tap its full potential for the good of humankind.

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