The societal impacts of AI – A business leadership perspective
Artificial Intelligence has become commonplace for both personal use as well as in business. A major technological breakthrough that is here to stay and transform the way we live, learn, work. Whether agentic, generative, deep learning, 90% of business sectors and industries have taken the plunge into AI, signalling a transformation that is both profound and irreversible.
Whilst implementation takes shape, a key question is whether the societal impacts of AI have entered the discussion on inclusive, responsible and sustainable business.
We could of course pose the question to an AI-powered chatbot. Instead, we convened a group of Business in the Community Ireland member company CEOs and thought leaders to discuss to what extent AI implementation in business incorporates the societal impact dimension.
Key Insights from Business Leaders
- Defining what AI is – might feel trivial, but AI is used to describe multiple applications, business processes and models. This ambiguity complicates any assessment of the societal impacts of using AI, as different applications have different impacts and require different approaches. Clarity and a sort of taxonomy is required in order to address different potential social impacts and mitigation actions.
- AI implementation is taking place at high speed and keeping pace can be a challenge. Productivity gains are evident in most cases, in task augmentation, increased efficiency and reduced costs in the long-term. However, implementation is costly and buy-in is uneven. This can leave smaller companies, or those with tighter margins at a disadvantage, despite a compelling business case to invest in AI.
- Job displacement is happening. Research shows there is potential for AI to eliminate jobs across specific areas as tasks become more automated. This may impact on people with low and medium skilled jobs, with women and younger people more likely to fall into exposed occupations. This can lead to more inequality. How much job displacement AI will generate is hard to determine. There was a clear view that upskilling is also taking place. Building trust with staff will be critical to engage and generate acceptance as employees may be hesitant to adopt AI. AI risk management frameworks need to incorporate societal impact dimensions such as job displacement, upskilling and retraining. The CEOs highlighted that the human skills business will recruit for in the future will not change. Critical thinking, creativity and initiative will remain fundamental for any role.
- AI’s ethical challenges are becoming more complex when tools can facilitate spreading misinformation and disinformation, transform reality via deepfakes or “nudification” tools, or include biased algorithms that exacerbate discrimination. It was agreed this broader ethical dimension is immensely complex for business as there are personal individual choices to engage with this technology and the role of business in regulating its use by employees is harder to role model and monitor. Clear guardrails on AI use have to be developed and implemented. Again, trust will be important.
What Responsible AI Leadership Requires
The leaders we engaged believe businesses built with a strong foundation on inclusion and sustainability should be well prepared to navigate the societal challenges posed by AI. Responsible businesses need to be coherent and ensure AI impacts on society are managed with the same rigour as any other governance, social or environmental dimension.
A credible ‘how-to guide’ for business on AI will require:
- CEO-driven leadership and commitment strongly aligned with company purpose
- Clear guidelines, risk assessments and metrics
- Meaningful engagement across communities, customers, employees to understand impacts
- Transparent disclosure and accountability.
The Path Forward
AI has redefined the boundaries of business’ societal responsibility. Yet the fundamental principles of assessment, engagement, mitigation have not changed. There is a clear call on business leaders to ensure that societal responsibility remains at the core of the AI revolution.
There is a significant competitiveness opportunity for Irish business to thrive with AI and there is an equally compelling case for societal impact to be part of this competitiveness agenda.
Tomás Sercovich, CEO Business in the Community Ireland
