The promise and peril of AI

Leading Conversations in AI

On March 8, 2021, the Deloitte AI Institute launched a monthly series, called “Leading Conversations in AI,” to discuss top-of-mind AI topics with leading experts from startups, enterprises, academia, and research groups. This is a virtual event and open to everyone interested to learn more about AI. The most interesting aspect of this series is that all our speakers will always be women and our humble attempt to highlight women in AI role models.

Throughout the series, our speakers will dive deep into a multitude of dimensions of AI in each session - conversational AI, robotics, ethics, scaling AI, Future of Work, diversity in AI, synthetic data, MLOps, neuromorphic computing, computer vision, data and AI governance, speech recognition and many more.

Our second event in the series was in partnership with the Fisher Center for Business Analytics at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and the Deloitte AI Institute. The conversation centered on whether equality, ethics, and inclusion are possible in AI.

Panelists included:

• Anca Dragan, assistant professor, UC Berkeley, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences department
• Brandie Nonnecke, director, CITRIS Policy Lab, UC Berkeley
• Aparna Dhinakaran, co-founder and chief product officer, Arize AI
• Kelly Cure, co-founder and head of growth, Skillful.ly
  
• Andreea Gorbatâi, Assistant Professor in Management of Organizations, Berkeley Haas
• Nishita Henry, Chief Innovation Officer, Deloitte
   

The promise of AI

Participants discussed AI-based and AI-driven technology that has the potential to make the world a better place. But they acknowledged that along with the health, safety and quality of life benefits AI can help bring, there are risks. AI might live up to its promise in the research environment, but in real-life applications it sometimes falters due to biases that are programmed in.

This article is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this article are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This article should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.

Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.

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