The session “Unlock AI through Strategy, Culture and Responsibility” was presented at the Women in AI conference, The Rising 2020 by Dr Rohini Srivathsa, who is the National Technology Officer at Microsoft India. 

The primary aspect of the talk is while AI has been talked about a lot, yet there is a gap and how one can ensure that their organisation is a part of the transformation.

The session started with a video showing how Microsoft AI has been contributing to changing the economy and the way of living a digital life. At the present scenario, AI is the greatest commercial opportunity and it will empower developers to innovate, empower organisations to transform industries as well as empower people to transform society in multiple ways.

Rohini discussed the 4 critical reasons for what is holding organisations back when it comes to AI. They are as follows-

  1. 79 per cent of the time it is the fear of the unknown that includes, security, privacy, potential risks, liabilities, understanding what AI actually is and the value measurement.
  2. 63 per cent of the time it is finding their starting point that includes the strategy definition, finding use cases, finding funding, etc.
  3. 48 per cent of the time it is the vendor strategy that includes the integration complexity and confusion over the vendor offerings and
  4. Lastly, 40 per cent of the time it is the enterprise maturity that includes governance issues and lack of staff skills. 

Handling The Issues  

According to Rohini, the AI leaders who are ahead of this game have been doing some of the tasks differently than the others. They are mentioned below-

  1. AI Understanding– They are looking to understand the practical applications of AI, for instance, where is it going to add the practical value in the business.
  2. AI Acceptance– In order to adopt AI, there has been acceptance and culture issues. Employees need to accept what AI is, understand that it is an augmentation, etc. 
  3. AI Responsibility- The AI leaders are also addressing the data best practices and other issues of bias. 

One can become an AI leader only when she/he learns the strategy, culture and the meaning of responsible AI. It is important to understand that companies need a holistic AI strategy in order to enable transformation throughout the organisation. 

Rohini discussed that an overall strategy is a large matter of discussion but it is also important that when someone thinks about the use-cases which are typically how AI starts, one looks for the efficiency gain in supply chain management, field service, patient care, fraud prevention, among others. 

She added that while it is also important to look at the single use-cases to get an immediate understanding of the value, one must also have a view of how AI would help transform his/her organisation end-to-end. 

This kind of thinking typically comes at the senior level or someone who is in the leadership role and it is important for every organisation to have such roles. The AI leaders can contribute by adding activities into the area such as revenue streams, incubation, cost centres, among others. One must try to transform every area of the organisation by bringing AI into every application, ever process as well as every employee.

AI In Financial

Rohini further discussed how AI is transforming the financial services industry. In financial services, an organisation can have customer engagement through Robo-advisors, next best action, money laundering detection in terms of risks, etc. 

Thee starting point of AI transformation in an organisation depends on the two points, which are

  • Understand Your AI Maturity- One can start understanding the maturity of AI by selecting a use-case that will be successful and then implementing AI in the core areas as the organisation is transforming.
  • Drive Immediate Value- One must focus on where AI will have a measurable impact and while building the trust around AI in the organisation, one must also search for the highest-value cases.  

Furthermore, Rohini discussed how culture is equally important as a strategy. She stated that the qualities of an AI-ready culture include data-driven, responsible, empowering and inclusive. In the journey of AI, one must always seek for trusted and responsible AI that includes fairness, reliability, inclusiveness, privacy, transparency and accountability.

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