Any technology that has the potential to significantly transform businesses and society raises important challenges for organizations to adopt, but also potentially new risks that can prove difficult to foresee and manage. New strategic possibilities, processes, practices, skills, culture and other significant organizational changes required to safely leverage major technological innovations make it imperative for C-suite executives to stay close to these technological developments, understand their implications and skilfully lead and manage innovation and adoption while minimizing risks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably one of the historically most impactful technologies for business, the economy and society, considered to be a driving force behind the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

According to some estimates, it is expected to create a total GDP uplift of about $15.7 trillion globally by 2030.1 AI can enable opportunities and perform tasks unthinkable until recently, such as large-scale visual inspections of physical assets or livestock; medical diagnoses with higher accuracy than the best experts; significant support for the creation of new discoveries and IP, for example for the development of new drugs; automated conversations with people anytime, anywhere, for example to enable efficient and effective customer service; or full automation of complex tasks, such as autonomous driving. On the flip side, if not managed carefully, it also creates new major risks unlike anything experienced with previous technologies. For instance, as discussed in this toolkit, AI can exacerbate inequalities and contribute to unfair treatment at scale, create new possibilities for malicious attacks and new unsafe scenarios, or contribute to misinformation and the creation of polarization that can pose threats to democracy and even to national security.