We sat down with Anne McCormick, Digital Technology Policy Leader, Global Public Policy at EY, to talk about confidence and governance for the future of AI.
What's the future of AI?
The future of AI is full of potential but also uncertainty. This is not only because AI/GenAI and its applications are evolving fast, but also because AI’s future depends on how individuals and societies will choose to ‘govern’, as well as leverage, this powerful technology. What’s crucial for AI’s future is confidence: confidence in the technology itself, and societal confidence in the responsible way AI will be used.
While efforts are already being made in this direction, my sense is that we have reached a point where building this critical confidence requires a shift: both an acceleration and greater effectiveness in the collaboration between AI developers, user-citizens, policymakers, civil society, the private sector, and others. For AI to be deployed to its full positive potential, the short and medium-term risks of AI need to be addressed openly and credibly, accompanied by appropriate AI governance frameworks and a core set of common (or at least interoperable) international AI standards.
What's the coolest application of AI you've seen so far?
For me, some of the coolest AI applications are in medicine and biotech, opening the way for better prevention, new treatments and mass customisation. For example, take early cancer detection, or the deployment of individually tailored, gene therapy treatments. Being able to mass-deploy AI-enabled tailored treatments, and then make them accessible to, and ‘co-owned’ by people across vulnerable communities (including in the Global South) would be an incredible prize.
AI adoption in business: Name three benefits, and three potential risks
Benefits? First, AI can augment and support our (humans’) impact in some work environments (for instance quickly drafting and summarising, identifying helpful patterns and connections that accelerate discoveries, basic coding), freeing up human time, judgement and creativity for more rewarding work. Second, AI further opens the door to mass customization—tailoring products and services on a huge scale. Third, in the right conditions, AI can help stimulate and support aspects of human creativity, offering fresh perspectives and solutions.
Risks? One significant risk is the current lack of effective AI governance, systems and controls in many organisations—without governance and human oversight, AI systems can be flawed and deceptive, can be used irresponsibly and can also result in businesses not meeting their (fast-evolving) AI regulatory compliance obligations. There’s also the growing gap between AI-savvy employees/businesses and others, which could widen economic inequalities if not addressed proactively (e.g. with AI literacy and skills embedded in core employee training). Lastly, AI can disrupt traditional value chains, creating significant risks which need to be identified early and addressed proactively.
What excites you the most about an AI-empowered world?
If developed and used responsibly, AI can help solve some of the biggest challenges we face, from healthcare to sustainability. It’s not just about efficiency and optimization—AI can be (should be) about supporting human development, enhancing lives, and creating a more equitable world.
What do you envision for the future of human-machine collaboration?
AI as it stands today, is still ultimately a very capable ‘tool’ created by humans, which has the potential to significantly augment, support and supplement human talent if developed and used responsibly. But we mustn’t forget that AI often mirrors and even further promotes human biases and flaws. To truly unlock the positive potential of human-machine collaboration, we need to ensure that we take responsibility for how we build, share, control and use these tools, ensuring they reflect the best of our humanity and learn from our mistakes. Who knows, maybe if we get it right, future AI will encourage us, humans, to be the best humans and custodians of our planet that we can be!
Anne McCormick
Digital Technology Policy Leader, Global Public Policy
EY