(21 August 2024 – United States) Over one in two Fortune 500 companies view artificial intelligence (AI) as a serious risk to their operations according to a new analysis of their annual reports.
Overall, 56 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the United States (US) cited AI as a pressing risk factor in their most recent annual reports according to research by Arize AI reported by Tabby Kinder for FT, a research platform that tracks public disclosures by large businesses.
The figure represents an enormous increase from a mere nine percent in 2022. Only 33 companies of the 108 that specifically raised generative AI in their official filings saw it as an opportunity.
Quest Diagnostics and Cigna bucked the trend by asserting that generative AI was improving parts of the business such as customer service, specimen processing and claims analysis.
“Use of AI solutions by employees or suppliers could lead to the public disclosure of confidential information as well as unauthorised access to personal data relating to employees, clinical trial participants or others” warned Viatris, the pharmaceutical group that was spun out of Pfizer.
“Adoption of AI presents emerging ethical issues around data collection and privacy. Profit margins could be affected by uncertainty around emerging AI applications, making it more likely to commit greater investment to develop and test new models” Salesforce commented.