Gabelli School of Business Center for Digital Transformation Hosts Enterprise Applications of AI: Challenges and Opportunities
Featured Events | Nov 11, 2024 | Gabelli School of Business
Panel Discussion Convened Leaders From Across Industries who Shared Best Practices and Their Predictions on the Future of AI in Business
On October 29, the Gabelli School of Business Center for Digital Transformation, which is led by Professor Aditya Saharia, Ph.D., hosted “Enterprise Applications of AI: Challenges and Opportunities,” a panel discussion that explored the ways in which some of the most prominent companies across industry sectors are developing AI technology for their organizations and integrating it throughout the business functions.
Professor Aditya Saharia, Ph.D., Mahendra Vyas, Alistair Bruce, and Brian Smith
The conversation, which was followed by an informative Q&A session, was moderated by Alistair Bruce, CIO, Government Public Sector (GPS) Practice at EY, and featured panelists, Kenneth Adler, chair, Technology and Outsourcing Group, Loeb & Loeb, LLP; Joseph Bonanno, managing director, global head of Data Analytics & Innovation, Citi Wealth; Brian Smith, managing director, Alvarez & Marsal, Corporate Performance Improvement; and Mahendra Vyas, vice president and global head of Enterprise Architecture, GSK. Professor Saharia delivered opening remarks.
Each panelist provided an overview of how AI technology is being utilized in his organization and how it is transforming business operations. Throughout the discussion, the group collectively addressed a wide range of issues that focused on the ways in which companies need to adapt and grow as new AI-driven technology creates seismic shifts in how day-to-day business is conducted. The magnitude of the changes occurring were compared to those of the industrial revolution.
Kenneth Adler, detailed how AI technology is transforming the legal industry, especially in the areas of document review and the work usually delegated to paralegals. He noted that the ability for large language models (LLMs) to process data is freeing up employees to do other types of work better—a major shift from the established ways in which law firms operate. He added that AI will change the functional operations of legal firms in good and bad ways, and that the priority is to focus on enhancing productivity with controls in place that will enable employees and clients to use AI properly and effectively.
Joseph Bonanno, discussed how AI technology is revolutionizing the ways wealth managers at Citi have been interacting with their client base over the past several years. Utilizing a combination of products, Citi has harnessed AI’s capability to analyze a high volume of data to facilitate and customize some of the more regular communication touchpoints with clients. This has been executed by utilizing data to determine what information the client needs and by automating some of the communications vehicles. This process has allowed the company to provide hyper-personalized interactions for a wider roster of clients more efficiently.
Brian Smith, discussed the ways Alvarez & Marsal is using AI technology across the company’s many areas of expertise. He also focused on how humans are interacting with AI technology and emphasized that people use different tools in different ways. In addition, he highlighted the importance of addressing employees’ comfort level with AI, stressing that companies need to recognize that a culture shift may also take place during AI implementation. He encouraged audience members to consider the implementation of AI as a rethinking of “what work is,” and to explore the ways AI can add value to their existing business processes.
In the pharmaceutical industry, Mahendra Vyas, emphasized that patient safety is critical in the application of AI in the biomedical sciences. As a result, GSK is taking a more cautious path towards implementation, and is keeping patient care at the center of its plans to implement AI widely across its global business.
In concluding the panel, all participants acknowledged there are a range of emotions that employees are experiencing as they are being trained to use AI technology as part of their jobs. They recognized it will be an immense challenge to convince those who are alarmed by the changes occurring, that AI enhances rather than replaces the work of human employees. They also noted the tremendous lag in regulatory action across the world’s governing bodies in developing appropriate and realistic compliance measures that will serve as the guardrails needed to manage technology that is evolving faster than we can adapt.
