The AI blind spot: Critical insights every executive must know

Asking the right questions helps you deeply understand a specific technology. But what if that technology changes so fast you’re not sure what to ask? 

Understanding AI is more than a professional imperative for my job. It’s also a personal passion. Three AI agents run on my laptop and continually comb websites, journals and blogs for AI content. I review the 600 pages of findings each week, but the pace of innovation means it’s not getting easier to stay informed. The technology regularly surprises me with both unexpected challenges and opportunities. 

Staying on top of such an ever-evolving topic is even more challenging for many CEOs, CFOs and other C-suite executives. Their boards of directors are pressuring them to add AI to products, marketing, customer service, finance or HR. That directive is aimed at giving your organization a corporate and customer advantage. However, executives don’t have time to devote hours to understanding the technology.

Complicating matters, every organization’s experience is different, so connecting the dots on AI is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Even if you know what to ask, you may not know who to trust for the answers necessary to develop a cohesive AI vision. Or you may worry you’ll be judged for not knowing the latest.

As AI reshapes the business landscape, forward-thinking executives need actionable intelligence. These five critical insights will give you the strategic clarity to make confident AI decisions. Doing so lets you avoid costly missteps and position your organization ahead of competitors that are still caught in the hype cycle. Here's what you must know. 

#1: At some point, AI won’t be a conversation topic 

These days, everyone is talking about AI. Its potential and risks dominate newspaper headlines and newscast stories. It dominates conversations at meetings of the two Gartner boards on which I serve, including one for CIOs. Most organizations are trying to figure out where it fits into their operations. 

That likely won’t continue for long – and not because AI is a fad. As soon as the next five years, AI won’t be talked about the way it is now because it’ll be entrenched in everything we use and do. Think about the way we used to refer to electric television and now simply say television. Or how we talked about electric coffeemakers and now it’s just a coffeemaker. 

AI will be built into every aspect of your business. It’ll become expected rather than a conversation topic. 

#2: AI decisions are often a judgment call 

One way to connect the dots about AI is by asking other executives questions like: What is your definition of AI? How is your organization leveraging or deploying AI? What solutions have you rolled out using AI? How long did it take you to realize ROI? However, executives aren’t always open to asking. 

Even if you did have all those answers, much of AI remains uncharted territory. You can plot a course more successfully if you accept that you can’t understand all future risks but can learn all you can. You must often use your best judgment, and that happens only if you’re well-educated about technology.

#3: Data remains your top asset — and challenge — when optimizing AI 

Complicating the apples-to-apples comparison with other organizations’ AI adoption is the fact everyone’s experience is different. This can be attributed to the disparate nature of data, the wide-ranging quality of that data and the lack of appropriate data structure. 

The data must be cleansed and structured properly to make it consumable in AI applications, but organizations differ in resource utilization. Depending on your organization’s size and the skill level of your resources, you may have limited availability for this initiative but can still move toward data readiness. 

#4: Artificial general intelligence makes ethics a top priority

Is this the year that artificial general intelligence (AGI) emerges? AGI is the point when AI surpasses human knowledge and gains the ability to act autonomously on that knowledge. AGI agents could become integrated into service packages from leading-edge companies so the decision of whether to leverage agents may no longer be a simple one, or one that humans need to make.

While organizations can sign the EU AI Pact to voluntarily pledge to use AI responsibly, the US doesn’t have a similar agreement to act in accordance with ethical, governance and compliance regulations. However, AGI will push the limits, and executives must take the governance and compliance discussion from the general counsel office to the corporate level.

You need to be part of the conversation in deciding what AI agents will be allowed to do and what they’ll be explicitly prohibited from doing. Before AI agents start acting independently, you’ll need the protection of preestablished guardrails.

One solution is to use an orchestrator approach on your deployed AI agents. Similar to how a track on an amusement park ride gives the rider some freedom to steer on an approved course, an orchestrator keeps AI use within set boundaries. Steer your organization according to the technology and with your own internal and moral compass. 

#5: AI’s ethical risks are still being discovered 

No matter how much one studies AI, you’ll encounter an unexpected ethical issue. For me, that happened when a client shared that employees in some markets drove corporate vehicles manufactured in a country with an authoritarian government and wondered if the vehicle’s technology could be sending sensitive data to that country. That question surprised me because people in the US don’t drive cars from that country, so this potential AI risk doesn’t come up in the US.

The AI ethos is uncharted territory. Sometimes, you may be focused on securing the front door, but the back door might be unlocked. Keep your mind open and organization secure as new risks emerge. 

Advance your AI expertise 

Unisys takes a pragmatic approach to AI. Our executive AI education, offered by the Unisys AI Practice team, aims to dispel AI myths and share guidance on AI’s business impact. You’ll learn AI’s capabilities and the steps to address AI barriers. You’ll also get a historical overview of AI’s evolution, from thinking machines to AGI, and a peek into where AI is going.

Ongoing education can help you navigate AI advancements and their strategy implications. The Unisys course helps you become an AI-driven executive who optimizes its value. Such executives are data advocates with critical thinking skills, technical knowledge and team focus. 

Collaborate with Unisys AI Practice and explore our AI solutions.