196. A guide for boards on generative AI: Four questions for management teams
Feb 20, 2024
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Discover how boards can guide management teams in embracing generative AI, the economic potential of this technology, essential questions for CEOs, and insights from experts in technology and board practices. Explore the role of boards in maximizing data utilization, leveraging early mover advantages, and creating value in generative AI for global productivity gains.
Boards should encourage management to have an experimental mindset and consider risks/opportunity costs of not adopting generative AI.
Generative AI can enhance productivity by prioritizing applications like decision-making, content creation, and upskilling for innovation.
Deep dives
The Role of Boards in Exploring the Potential of Generative AI
Boards play a crucial role in engaging management teams to fully explore the potential of generative AI, even beyond their comfort zones. They need to encourage management to have an experimental and external mindset, considering the risks and opportunity costs of not adopting new technologies. Some key questions boards should focus on include the impact of generative AI on the industry and business model, the risks and mitigation strategies, scaling beyond pilots, and deploying AI in a responsible and secure way. Boards should also ensure they have the right talent, culture, and external perspectives to drive innovation.
Applications and Implications of Generative AI
Generative AI has various applications that boards should prioritize for early deployment. This includes decision-making, content creation, coding and software engineering, and conversational abilities. The technology has the potential to enhance productivity and create significant value for organizations. Boards should also consider how generative AI can be used to improve their own operations, such as accessing company information and assisting in decision-making. Upskilling, externalization of perspectives, and being catalysts for change are key focus areas for boards in embracing generative AI.
Managing Risks and Embracing Opportunities
Boards need to be aware of the risks associated with generative AI, such as data security, biases, and hallucination. They should also consider the risks of inaction or omission, as well as the importance of developing proprietary gen AI systems for sensitive data. Board composition should include members with sufficient technical understanding, and there should be a focus on continuous upskilling and external perspectives. Boards can benefit from using generative AI as a learning tool and leverage the technology to drive innovation and value creation.
The Early Mover Advantage and Being a Catalyst for Change
Boards have the opportunity to be early movers in adopting generative AI and capturing its potential value creation. This requires steering management teams to embrace change and become early adopters. Boards should not only focus on productivity improvements but also reimagine domains and business models to fully leverage the technology's capabilities. By being catalysts for change, boards can accelerate value capture and facilitate the realization of the significant value creation and productivity enhancement potential of generative AI.
Boards can play an essential role in engaging management teams to ensure they fully explore the potential of generative AI, even beyond their comfort zone. In this episode, we discuss the most important questions boards need to ask senior executives as their companies move to adopt this technology. Our guests are experienced in both technology and board practices.
Douglas Merrill is a partner in our Southern California office and was the Chief Information Officer and VP of Engineering at Google before joining McKinsey.