Why it’s crucial to build confidence in AI

Transparency is something that people expect of organizations today, regardless of AI. From practices and products to how businesses engage with employees and customers, transparency is how an organization becomes a reputable partner, employer and goods/services provider.

But organizations can’t always be completely transparent. They can’t legally share confidential data, for instance, and wouldn’t want to divulge information that could damage their business. So firms already have to balance how much to share with their customers and stakeholders to maintain relations without giving away what makes the business competitive. According to Kumardev Chatterjee, CEO, technology innovator and entrepreneur and WEF recognized expert , it’s the same in the age of AI.

“Just because a company is AI-driven, it doesn’t mean that what is illegal to do today will become legal tomorrow,” Chatterjee explains. “Organizations aren’t going to start putting their employees’ confidential information online just because of AI. And just because it’s AI-driven doesn’t mean that an organization that has the right balance has to be more transparent than it is today.”

In Chatterjee’s opinion, the same issues will persist – just in an AI context. “As usual, it’s a question of communication, audience management and customer experience.” The only difference, he says, is that “AI will simply provide organizations with better tools to perform these tasks – such as helping organizations to better understand customer sentiment and so develop better customer experience strategies.”

The next question is how leaders can create AI processes that are ethical, safe and unbiased. For Chatterjee, the solution is twofold.

First, companies will need to hire for a new role – an AI auditor. “This will be an independently trained, legally and technically aware individual,” Chatterjee explains. “Someone who can tell organizations whether the processes they’re following are safe.”

Second, companies should address the larger question of AI practices within their industry. For this, Chatterjee believes it will be essential to have industry-led AI transparency standards. 

Organizations have to be able to explain how they get results from AI processes. This helps their employees and customers to see AI as a useful tool instead of a malevolent, destructive force. But is it possible to fully explain AI processes?

“The short answer is no,” says Chatterjee. In his experience, when customers ask companies to tell them how they are doing X and Y using AI, what they really want is reassurance – they want to know how the organization is making sure that their lives will not be compromised by its actions, processes and software.

This need for reassurance has surfaced every time a new technology has entered the market, and it will keep coming up. “Today it’s AI, tomorrow it’ll be quantum computing,” says Chatterjee. "The next day, it’ll be laser-based recognition.”

A good example here is airport scanners. When they were introduced, people were appalled that these machines would reveal their bodies to airport security. “Now, you don’t even think about it,” says Chatterjee. “In fact, people get upset if an airport doesn’t have a body scanner, because it takes more time to go through security. The same will happen with AI.”

So instead of explaining all their processes in intricate detail, organizations will need to balance what they do and don’t explain to their customers – just like they do with transparency.

Leaders must provide reassurance that personal data will not and is not being compromised, that there’s no inherent bias, and that all digital processes are operating ethically. But the organization will also need to remind clients and customers that it can’t always disclose how it reaches a certain outcome if it would be competitively disadvantageous. “This is a tool,” says Chatterjee. “And like any other tool it’s our responsibility to make sure it’s used responsibly without compromising the customer or our business.”