Daily Unanticipated Risks:
IBM ED Heather Gentile on Generative AI

08 March 2024 – The Makati Business Club (MBC) and IBM Philippines commenced its series of roundtable discussions on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the business sector. The series kicked off with IBM Executive Director for Product Management, Data, and AI Heather Gentile leading the meeting on AI Governance.

A diverse group of industries attended the session, including representatives from IT and communications, electricity and water distribution, construction, and finance, among others.

“If an organization is going to align its business strategy with the core technology, there’s a lot of governance required to ensure that it goes well from a regulatory, compliance, and operational risk standpoint… The difference, particularly with generative AI, is that it is new, and we are learning about unanticipated risks almost daily when organizations get into the news for some unintended consequences due to the actions of using AI,” explained Gentile.

Given the unknown risks, innovation opportunities, and investment needs of generative AI, it becomes increasingly important to take the risks to a high level to formalize policies and procedures. In establishing AI governance in an organization, Gentile urged executives to ask: How does this align with your ethics and values as a company? “Layout the values and culture of the organization and operationalize this into a tactical AI governance framework,” she said.

“Ethics needs to be looked at as the brakes of the car. It allows the car to run faster; it’s not an inhibitor,” IBM Philippines President and Country Manager and MBC’s Women in C-Suite Committee Chair Aileen Judan-Jiao said during the discussion – highlighting the responsibilities and involvement of the organization in setting up appropriate procedures and guidelines for AI.

Toward the end of the discussion, attendees raised concerns about AI potentially displacing low-skilled laborers. “At the end of the day, the decision (to upskill or terminate employees) stays with you (as executives) and not with AI,” Jiao explained. Both Gentile and Jiao provide the perspective of having “a human in the loop” throughout the development and use of AI— the people, processes, and technology must work hand in hand to ensure AI’s success.

This first roundtable discussion was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day in an effort to put a spotlight on and advance women in technology.