During the third annual Brainstorm AI conference organized by Fortune, a range of industry experts gathered to discuss the substantial ways AI technology is changing various facets of our lives. The conference offered the following key insights:
- Labor: While AI is expected to displace many jobs, new opportunities are being created. However, companies are unprepared for these changes. Atif Rafiq, founder and CEO of Ritual.work, stressed that organizations need to prepare their teams to utilize AI to improve performance. Accenture’s CTO, Paul Daugherty, emphasized the need to bring employees up to speed with new AI tools.
- Implementing AI: Many companies are not using AI effectively, according to Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare. However, the conference showcased examples of companies successfully incorporating AI. Key suggestions on AI implementation included understanding the real needs of customers, involving teams from different areas such as data science, risk, compliance, and policy, and aligning the expectations of different levels of management. Concerning this, a survey cited by Upwork CEO Hayden Brown showed discrepancies between the confidence levels of C-suite executives and other managers in their respective AI strategies.
Notable speakers at the event included Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, who warned against jeopardizing the future by overthinking AI risks, and the Khan Academy’s founder who predicted AI ‘coaches’ will soon help ease teachers’ burdens by submitting essays instead of students.
White House tech policy director emphasized the need for every U.S. citizen to evaluate the authenticity of imagery released by the government. GenAI highlighted AI’s role in transforming the cybersecurity landscape, and how natural language capabilities are appealing to older users.
Ahead, the Brainstorm AI conferences are planned to take internationally, with next events scheduled for London and Singapore in 2024.