In the era of generative AI, the promise of this technology increases every day as businesses discover new possibilities. However, the true measure of AI’s progress goes beyond its technical capabilities.
It’s about how technology is harnessed to reflect collective values and create a world where innovation benefits everyone, not just a select few. Prioritizing trust and security while evolving artificial intelligence (AI) with governance is critical to realizing the full benefits of this technology.
It is becoming clear that for many companies, the ability to use AI responsibly in their business operations is essential to remain competitive. To do this, organizations must develop an AI strategy that allows them to leverage AI responsibly. This strategy should include:
- Establish a framework for data and AI governance across the enterprise.
- Integrate AI into workflows that deliver the greatest business impact.
- Gain competitive advantage and differentiation.
- Attracting talent and customers.
- Building and maintaining shareholder and investor confidence.
To capitalize on the opportunities presented by AI, companies should consider adopting an open strategy. Open ecosystems foster AI innovation and collaboration. They force companies to compete based on the quality of their creation and deployment of AI technologies, and they allow everyone to explore, test, study, and deploy AI. This helps cultivate a broader and more diverse pool of perspectives that contribute to the development of responsible AI models.
IBM AI Ethics Committee Highlights Opportunities for Responsible AI
IBM’s AI Ethics Board recognizes the opportunities that AI offers while establishing safeguards to limit abuse. A responsible AI strategy is at the heart of this approach:
The Board of Directors’ White Paper, “Foundation Models: Opportunities, Risks and Mitigations”, shows that baseline models show substantial improvements in their ability to solve difficult and complex problems. Leveraging AI and data governance, the benefits of baseline models can be realized responsibly, including increased productivity (by expanding the areas in which AI can be used in a business), performing tasks that require different types of data (such as natural language, text, image, and audio), and reducing expenses by applying a trained baseline model to a new task (instead of training a new AI model for the task).
Core models are generative and offer AI the ability to automate routine and tedious tasks within operational workflows, freeing up users to spend more time on creative and innovative work. An interactive version of the Core Model whitepaper is also available at IBM Watsonx™ AI Risk Atlas.
Recognizing the potential productivity gains offered by AI, the council’s white paper on Augmenting human intelligence highlights that effectively integrating AI into existing work practices can enable AI-assisted workers to become more efficient and accurate, contributing to a company’s competitive differentiation.
By handling routine tasks, AI can attract and retain talent by providing employees with opportunities to develop in new and different career paths or to focus on more creative and complex tasks that require critical thinking and subject matter expertise within their existing roles.
Earlier this year, IBM’s AI Ethics Committee stressed that a human-centered approach to AI must advance AI capabilities while adopting ethical practices and addressing sustainability needs. Creating AI requires large amounts of energy and data. In 2023, IBM reported that 70.6% of its total electricity consumption came from renewable sources, including 74% of the electricity consumed by IBM data centers, which are integral to training and deploying AI models.
IBM is also focusing on developing energy-efficient methods to train, tune and run AI models. IBM® Granite™ The models are smaller and more efficient than larger models and can therefore have a lower impact on the environment. As IBM integrates AI into its applications, we are committed to meeting the growing expectations of shareholders, investors and other stakeholders for the responsible use of AI, including by considering the potential environmental impacts of AI.
AI offers a tremendous opportunity to address some of society’s most pressing challenges. On this AI Appreciation Day, join the IBM AI Ethics Committee in our commitment to the responsible development of this transformative technology.
Discover IBM’s perspective on AI ethics
Learn how IBM Granite models are purpose-built for business
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