Artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool, but only when it is utilized properly. The proliferation of generative AI is forcing a lot of companies to grapple with that conundrum quickly.
According to a survey of over 1,000 executives conducted by PwC (a Trust Factor sponsor) and published Thursday, approximately 93% believe strongly that their investments in emerging technology are helping build trust with stakeholders. But fewer than half of them are taking necessary steps—such as building control frameworks—to actually harness the trust value of new tech.
“Governance is key,” says Mohamed Kande, global consulting leader at PwC. While many executives are certain that their company needs to adopt generative AI in some capacity, Kande says, the consultancy is “spending a lot of time with many executives to think over how best to govern” the tech before it is deployed.
Getting the deployment strategy correct is key because simply using emerging tech is not enough to build trust. A company does not become more trustworthy just because it has the latest tool; it needs to use that tool in a way that delivers on its promises to stakeholders—such as increasing efficiencies, cutting costs, and raising the bottom line. PwC and others call this process building trust by design.
For generative AI, building trust by design would involve mapping out systems for data governance throughout the AI’s life cycle. This means understanding exactly where and how data is going to be collected, stored, used, and protected—as well as who will be responsible for ensuring the data is then managed as per the framework. Then there are other considerations, such as risk management in exposing the company to new technology.
“That's what we call trust by design: You look at different parts in the life cycle of [the technology] and you make sure that trust is embedded into all of it, not just into using the technology,” Kande says.
Getting the right people on your team early, PwC says, is a key step in building trust by design. That requires identifying the right internal stakeholders and then establishing an “alignment” between them on the goals, values, and risks of deploying a new technology. Next, those objectives need to be communicated to other stakeholders to dispel the fear of the unknown.
“How do you make sure that you embrace trust with technology? You don't leave anybody behind,” Kande says. “You make sure that you align the right people, you train people, you upskill people. That's when you make people trust technology because they understand it first.”
Being left behind—or being made redundant—is certainly a reasonable fear among employees at companies pursuing AI. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Take a look here at how IBM CEO Arvind Krishna thinks his company can incorporate AI without racking up layoffs.
Eamon Barrett
eamon.barrett@fortune.com
