Welcome to the sixth edition of the Brunswick Social Value Review, which was established with a clear mission: to look at what happens when societal issues become critical business issues. This edition examines the impacts of AI on those issues.
There has been much hype and much handwringing over AI. Big claims are made about the commercial opportunities it presents. And there are plenty of anxieties about harmful social and environmental consequences of AI use. But we aim to take a different perspective: How are companies deploying AI to advance sustainability priorities and create social value?
We explore the tension between the challenges and opportunities presented by AI. Nowhere is this more evident than in the climate debate. Concerns about AI’s eyewatering thirst for energy are well documented. At the same time, AI can drive a revolution in the energy system, as we see in “Bearing Fruit.”
We map out the potential applications of AI—transforming the health system, discovering new drugs, advancing economic inclusion and helping to make the circular economy a reality. We hear from the experts and leaders about how AI is making an impact in areas like these.
Disinformation and deepfakes are new risks to consider, and UC Berkeley Professor, author and researcher Hany Farid, dubbed the “father of digital forensics,” shares with us his unparalleled experience combatting manipulated media. “This is going to happen: Somebody’s going to create a video of your CEO kicking puppies down the street,” he says. “And they’re going to release it on Twitter where it will get millions of views.”
Global economist and member of the House of Lords, Baroness Dambisa Moyo feels the explosive growth of AI may have hit a plateau. But that doesn’t mean the risks are gone,“I always think about that adage attributed to Mark Twain: ‘It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you know for sure that’s just not so.’”
AI brings new security risks, and we speak to Rich Baich, AT&T’s Chief Information Security Officer, about defending the networks on which so many depend. “We’re power users of AI,” he says. Drawing on his more than 20 years as a CISO, he talks to us about using AI to detect and respond to new threats.
Chris Lehane, Chief Global Affairs Officer for OpenAI, which created a surge of interest in AI with ChatGPT, gives us his bird’s eye view on the rise of the “Intelligence Age.” And Google Vice President of Engineering Royal Hansen talks about AI’s role in global cybersecurity.
Will this technology worsen economic inequalities? Shamina Singh, the CEO for the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, tells us AI’s potential in building an inclusive digital economy.
Two top leaders at Stanford Medicine talk to us about what may be possible in medical research. Advances in quantum computing may cause seismic shifts in AI capabilities. Kohei Itoh, President of Japan’s Keio University describes groundbreaking work.
The CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Jonquil Hackenberg, speaks in our Systems Thinking pages on how AI may help make the circular economy a reality. The Head of AI Strategy at Reuters, Jane Barrett, talks about the changes in the media. And Climate Policy Radar Founder and CEO Dr. Michal Nachmany shares her expectations for using AI to boost the platform and its database of global climate action.
Throughout its pages, this magazine draws from the deep bench of Brunswick expertise from around the world. Caroline Daniel interviews the CEO of consumer review site Trustpilot and describes the swift rise of the executive position Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer.
Pru Bennett and Meaghan Ramsey outline the seven questions corporate boards should be asking about AI usage; Ben Hirschler interviews experts on AI’s promise for drug discovery; and Stacey Chow interviews Citi’s Managing Director and Head of Global Data Insights on using AI to build transparency in fintech.
This is a fluid subject that touches all aspects of business. The perspectives in this edition show how AI can help build stronger, future-proofed business. And that means becoming resilient in the face of the multiple, interconnected crises the world is facing.