Companies across the world are vying to be leaders in the artificial intelligence space, whether that means training their employees to use generative AI tools or implementing new workflows. But a problem is coming up for leaders in the corporate sustainability space: How do they ensure their companies remain on the cutting edge, but also safe and ethical?
That was the question business leaders in the corporate social responsibility space tackled during a roundtable discussion at the Fortune Impact Initiative in Atlanta led by Jamila Cowan, director of strategic relationships, sustainability, and ESG at Dell Technologies; Nathan Froelich, general manager and head of YourCause at Blackbaud; and Justina Nixon-Saintil, VP and chief impact officer at IBM. The leaders discussed the many use cases for AI, and how their companies are implementing it.
Cowan said Dell is already using AI in a number of ways with different clients, including by partnering with cities to create a digital assistant to get information to citizens, particularly in communities where members speak many different languages and need to access information in an emergency.
Beyond digital assistants, IBM's Nixon-Saintil said, the company is able to partner with governments and nonprofits to build climate-forecasting models, for example, that can help with access to climate data and potentially mitigate the impact of climate change.
The leaders also focused on access: how to enable connectivity across the world, and how to prepare people to be able to use the tools that are coming their way. IBM works with colleges to train professors on the technology, with the intent that college students outside of the STEM majors will also become AI fluent, says Nixon-Saintil. She hopes other companies will start implementing similar programs.
"There's no competition here. There's enough need that we all have to figure out how do we help support these different populations," says Nixon-Saintil. "How do we ensure we give them free access?"
The mainstreaming of AI has given rise to fears that marginalized groups around the world will be left behind and cut out of access and training with the technology. Basic generative AI skills will soon be table stakes in many professions, Froelich said. He added that companies should consider how they can help reskill workers across the globe.
"In six months, one year, when you sit down for an interview and the interviewer says, 'Do you know how to use gen AI, can you be a prompt engineer?' and you answer no, you're probably not going to get that job," he said, adding that using gen AI is a "human skill": "That awareness and that skill-building is for everybody. And we're still behind the eight ball on where we should be."
With ethical concerns in mind, Nixon-Saintil said, IBM has an AI ethics board that sometimes meets multiple times a month to keep the company on track. She and the other speakers said it is imperative for members of companies' corporate social responsibility teams and ESG teams to be on those committees.
"If your company has an AI council that is looking at the use of AI, you should be on that council; you should be the voice for the community, for how it's done ethically and responsibly," said Froelich.
