SYPartners’ Post

Excited to share news about changes in the leadership of the Data & Trust Alliance. But first a bit of the back story... More than four years ago, Kenneth I. Chenault, Sam Palmisano and a small group of CEOs of leading companies anticipated the arrival of AI. They realized that business had to get it right -- both to unlock AI's value for business and society and to do so in ways that earn trust with all stakeholders. And they knew this could only be achieved through action -- through actual business practice, not pledges and white papers. That's how the Data & Trust Alliance formed in 2020 and this singular mission continues to guide our work. Today our 29 members include some of the most influential leaders in business across all industries, including American Express, AT&T, CVS Health, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Mastercard, Nike, Pfizer, Salesforce, UPS, Walmart and Warby Parker. The Alliance created the first algorithmic safeguards for use by HR functions to guide AI-supported workforce decisions, the first "new diligence" criteria for M&A teams to assess the value and risks of data- and AI-centric companies, and most recently the first cross-industry standards for data provenance, which are vital for AI trustworthiness. Today, we announced that Saira Jesani is succeeding me as Executive Director; I will become Executive Chairman. Saira has led all of the Alliance's projects over the past four years. She is thoughtful and tireless, collaborative and passionate about our mission. Under her leadership, the Alliance will only intensify and broaden the impact of its work, which is needed more than ever. Details about Saira and her background can be found in this article. https://lnkd.in/eXSUhw_k #responsibleAI #AI #genAI

Recently, The Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program (EEP) and SYPartners joined forces to create a guide on Building #Coalitions. In the #climate space, the need for concerted and collaborative action has never been more apparent. While individual efforts are valuable, true potential for change lies in collective action toward a common goal: safeguarding our planet for #futuregenerations. Read more on our blog post: https://lnkd.in/e3YvqYqx

We all want to be more creative. But, we also need to be efficient. Our jobs (and capitalism) incentivize us for productivity. Our brains can default to the easiest path to an easy outcome. True creativity requires an open mind, risk-taking, and the possibility of failure, all of which can contradict our instincts and the momentum of productivity. If strategy is the oxygen for business, discovery is the oxygen for creativity. To truly innovate and create anew, we need both. What do we do?

Forty-five thousand years ago, someone drew a pig in a cave. Today we have a “rainbow everything with presents and strawberries and cats” by GPT and my four year old daughter. Making is fundamentally human. AI is an accelerant, churning out stuff that is useful, fast and easy. But does it produce meaning beyond utility? I can see AI's creeping influence on what we create (or prompt) and share, marching towards a visual monotony, making our individuality opaque. Van Gogh once said, “The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting.” Would his relationship to creating art be different if he used “the right prompt”, rather than laboring through each day, finding his salvation through creating his art? If we outsource the act of making to AI, we must question what we are losing along the way.