Why Companies Underestimate the Risk Of AI

A survey from law firm Baker McKenzie finds that adoption of AI into company management functions – notably but not exclusively into hiring and other HR functions – is almost always handled by information technology and security departments. This, despite the “extraordinary amount of potential downside risk in using AI algorithms,” according to the partner who heads the firm’s North America Machine Learning and AI practice, based in Palo Alto.

The survey, titled “Risky Business: Identifying Blind Spots in Corporate Oversight of Artificial Intelligence” queried 500 C-level executives who “self-identified as part of the decision-making team responsible for their organization’s adoption, use and management of AI-enabled tools.”

“AI impacts our most important life functions – things like obtaining a loan, getting hired or being promoted,” said the Baker McKenzie partner. “Make no mistake,” he added, “enforcement and civil litigation related to corporate AI usage are coming.”

According to the survey, the technology-related departments are the most frequently tapped to oversee deployment of AI tools, and legal departments are the least likely.