Tackling AI risks: Your reputation is at stake

Danger is all about context

Danger is all about context. In reality, one of many greatest dangers is failing to acknowledge or perceive your context: That’s why it’s worthwhile to start there when evaluating danger.

That is notably essential when it comes to repute. Suppose, as an example, about your prospects and their expectations. How may they really feel about interacting with an AI chatbot? How damaging may or not it’s to offer them with false or deceptive info? Possibly minor buyer inconvenience is one thing you possibly can deal with, however what if it has a major well being or monetary impression?

Even when implementing AI appears to make sense, there are clearly some downstream repute dangers that should be thought of. We’ve spent years speaking in regards to the significance of consumer expertise and being customer-focused: Whereas AI may assist us right here, it may additionally undermine these issues as nicely.

There’s an analogous query to be requested about your groups. AI might have the capability to drive effectivity and make folks’s work simpler, however used within the flawed manner it may critically disrupt present methods of working. The trade is speaking so much about developer expertise lately—it’s one thing I wrote about for this publication—and the choices organizations make about AI want to enhance the experiences of groups, not undermine them.

Within the newest version of the Thoughtworks Know-how Radar—a biannual snapshot of the software program trade primarily based on our experiences working with shoppers all over the world—we discuss exactly this level. We name out AI staff assistants as one of the thrilling rising areas in software program engineering, however we additionally be aware that the main target must be on enabling groups, not people. “Try to be on the lookout for methods to create AI staff assistants to assist create the ‘10x staff,’ versus a bunch of siloed AI-assisted 10x engineers,” we are saying within the newest report.

Failing to heed the working context of your groups may trigger vital reputational injury. Some bullish organizations may see this as half and parcel of innovation—it’s not. It’s exhibiting potential staff—notably extremely technical ones—that you just don’t actually perceive or care in regards to the work they do.

Tackling danger via smarter expertise implementation

There are many instruments that can be utilized to assist handle danger. Thoughtworks helped put collectively the Accountable Know-how Playbook, a set of instruments and methods that organizations can use to make extra accountable choices about expertise (not simply AI).

Nevertheless, it’s essential to notice that managing dangers—notably these round repute—requires actual consideration to the specifics of expertise implementation. This was notably clear in work we did with an assortment of Indian civil society organizations, creating a social welfare chatbot that residents can work together with of their native languages. The dangers right here weren’t not like these mentioned earlier: The context wherein the chatbot was getting used (as help for accessing important providers) meant that wrong or “hallucinated” info may cease folks from getting the assets they depend upon.