Enterprises urged to enhance investment in responsible AI

A report by HCLTech in collaboration with MIT Technology Review Insights has highlighted the urgent need for enterprises to implement responsible AI principles, revealing a disconnect between recognition and preparedness.

The study indicates that 87% of business executives agree on the critical importance of adopting responsible AI principles. However, 85% also admit they are not adequately prepared to implement these principles effectively.

Challenges contributing to this gap include the complexity of AI implementation, a lack of expertise, operational risk management difficulties, regulatory compliance hurdles, and insufficient resource allocation. These challenges underscore the disparity between the perceived importance of responsible AI and the readiness to adopt it.

Nonetheless, there is optimism, as the study reports business executives' plans to boost investments in responsible AI within the next year. The report, titled "Implementing Responsible AI in the Generative AI Age," also examines the issues enterprises face, such as bias, fairness, data privacy, security, regulatory compliance, operational disruptions, and user adoption, as they work to integrate responsible AI.

Conducted through a survey of senior business leaders across various industries globally, the report finds that AI-driven transformation is moving from the proof of concept stage to broader adoption, with executives recognising AI's potential to enhance productivity and innovation in business functions like customer service, software development, and marketing.

Another finding from the report is that Agentic AI, which operates autonomously with minimal human intervention, is increasingly being adopted, particularly in lower-risk areas such as IT operations.

Despite executives' confidence in managing operational risks, less than a quarter feel equipped to tackle challenges related to user adoption, change management, and bias.

Steven Hall, President of Europe and Chief AI Officer of ISG, expressed the ongoing challenges enterprises face as they strive to embrace AI. "Everybody understands how transformative AI is going to be and wants strong governance, but the operating model and the funding allocated to responsible AI are well below where they need to be given its criticality to the organization," he noted.

Vijay Guntur, CTO & Head of Ecosystems at HCLTech, stated, "AI can be a tremendous force of positive change in businesses and society at large, but its full potential can only be realised when it can be trusted." He emphasised the importance of adopting responsible AI practices and proposed several recommendations to support this goal.

Guntur advised companies to develop a comprehensive set of frameworks and capabilities that ensure trustworthiness, ethics, responsibility, safety, security, sustainability, regulatory compliance, change management, and user empowerment. He also advocated for leveraging partnerships with tech ecosystems to pilot, test, and implement the best practices and technologies swiftly.

To reinforce these efforts, Guntur suggested the establishment of a dedicated team or Centre of Excellence to lead the integration of responsible AI across an organisation. Additionally, HCLTech has established an Office of Responsible AI and Governance, which focuses on co-innovation, consulting capabilities, and intellectual property development concerning Responsible AI, assisted by specialists in NIST frameworks, the Europe AI Act, ISO, risk and compliance, ethics, and bias mitigation.