Charlie Stack’s Post

Geopolitical upheaval. AI. Election uncertainty. These external forces are only adding to the challenges CEOs and boards face. We surveyed more than 2,000 top global leaders to reveal the issues they’re prioritizing and what’s keeping them up at night. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gueGN_SF

Private markets have been slower to embrace technology and digital than the rest of the financial services pack, but AI may be poised to change that. We are seeing significant interest in AI from private equity, real estate, and other sectors, as firms race to determine the impact it will have on their portfolio companies, investment processes and the longer term economy.  It is still early innings, and there are quite a few different approaches, but many firms have hired senior data, analytics and AI executives to help them chart a course. Peter Hodkinson, Tim Ogle and I got an inside look at emerging best practices from investors like Blackstone, Sixth Street, EQT, and Oak Hill Capital and distilled some key themes in the newest edition of “Private Eyes”. The one thing that became obvious as we spoke with leaders on the ground is that some of the world’s most sophisticated investors are vying to get ahead on this trend, and are already positioning themselves to create sustained investor and portfolio company value by deeply engaging with emerging AI throughout their ecosystems. Special thanks to our contributors Todd Cullen, Bhavesh Dayalji, Matthew Katz, Alexandra Lutz and Matthew Papas for their time and valuable insights. Looking forward to your thoughts!

Last week my retail practice teammates Jenna Bayard, Caitlin Kenefick and Susan Hart organized a gathering of senior retail leaders in New York to discuss “How to Win with AI: The Human Factor”. I was asked to moderate a panel featuring my good friends: • Jack Hanlon, AI Product Leader, Meta • Prakhar Mehrotra, Managing Director of AI, Blackstone • Laks Srinivasan, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Return on AI Institute Big (perhaps obvious) takeaways for retailers looking to invest in AI? The first step is to clean up your existing data. You don’t need to embark on a complete technology overhaul but instead start with understanding the most important business problems and commit to investing in foundational data investments in support of a few places where AI can make a clear impact. Retail leaders also need to remember that successful AI journeys are centered around people and process, not technology. Leaders must develop AI intuition to prioritize technology investments, but they also have to embrace new team structures, incentivize new ways of working, and address potential brand risks. AI adoption does not start with, “how can we use ChatGPT?”, but rather, “How can AI support my people to better solve critical business problems or delight customers?” Perhaps most importantly, AI integration requires support from the top. Instigating change and successfully leveraging any technology, especially AI, needs to be supported by Board and C-suite leaders, and is best done by those who have developed AI intuition and are willing/able to be bold as a result. I would personally like to thank our for their fascinating contributions and also invite you to read our latest thinking around AI in retail by our London-based colleague Veena Marr: https://bit.ly/4bPBHgP

In the latest episode of WTTM, we had an amazing chat with Kelly Schaefer from Google. Kelly is a product guru who harnesses cutting-edge GenAI capabilities developed in Google Labs and applies them to enhance services like Gmail or to create entirely new products that you might not even know about yet. She has her finger on the pulse of what is next with AI. If you've wondered, "how is AI going to show up in my everyday life and work?" this is required listening. You're going to love her incredibly clear perspective on the near future of AI and the things you should be experimenting with today so that you don't get left in the dust! Website: https://lnkd.in/eGQ6TmfJ YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eDx63usF

In the first episode of Welcome to the Machine, we spent time with Jim Miller talking about the impact of AI on Boards and Corporate Governance. But this is NOT just a corporate podcast. To really think about AI, we need to start to think about the broader systemic impact that it will have. In our second episode, we turned in a completely different direction – the world of science.    One thing we are already seeing is that AI is producing some rapid advances in the pace of scientific discovery. Understanding why is an important part of comprehending how AI works and why it differs from human intelligence. To further investigate this, we chatted with Mark Woodward, a former Google Brain resident who has recently dedicated his energy to solving the problem of cryogenic life preservation. Yes, you read that correctly. And Mark is not a cryobiologist. He is an AI researcher, but believes that by bringing AI tools to experts in the field, he can help shortcut what would have otherwise been tens or hundreds of years of research necessary to make cryonics a reality.    Thanks for listening and let us know what you think!   Link: https://lnkd.in/er7ZHJZp

Everyone is talking about AI, but very few organizations are feeling confident about where AI fits into the current structure. This is reflected in the question I get asked most frequently these days: "Who should own AI and where should that person report?" Since every company's starting point, risks and opportunities are different, there isn't one answer to this question, but over the last decade we've learned a lot about how to guide companies towards the right answer for them. As a starting point, my partner Andy Demesier and I thought it was a good time to chronicle some of the key roles we see leading the AI charge, from CTOs, to newly created Chief AI Officers. In most companies, the agenda will be shared by many of these key technology stakeholders, which is why it's important to start to have role clarity and alignment set from the top.

As some of you know, I’ve been talking about launching a podcast for quite a while, and well, the time has finally come to act. Laks Srinivasan and I released the first episode of Welcome to the Machine.    For the last 15 years, my job has afforded me the privilege of getting to know many of the pioneers of the AI revolution – people who have been building Machine Intelligence in various forms since way before it was cool or lucrative. I get to learn about their careers and their accomplishments, but I also get to ask them about the very specific ways their work is changing our workplaces, our governments, our legal systems, our media and entertainment, our modes of transportation, our access to information – really changing just about every element of the social and economic fabric around us. And a least once a day, for a long time now, I have thought to myself, “this really should be shared with the world.”   That is the inspiration for Welcome to the Machine. To get past the hype of ChatGPT and the fear of AI taking all of our jobs, so that we can thoughtfully explore the many nuanced implications of AI and its emergence in our everyday life.    In upcoming episodes, we’ll talk about how AI is going to rapidly accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, or how to think about the AI assistants that have begun popping up in the technology you already use, or the concept of Open Source AI. But for our first episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by my friend Jim Miller, one of the most AI-savvy board directors I’ve encountered in corporate America. Jim built some of the earliest Machine Learning teams at Amazon, ran worldwide ops for Google, served as the CTO of Wayfair, and has been watching the evolution of AI for a long time now. Today he spends a lot of time thinking about AI from the perspective of a corporate director.    If you get the chance to listen to the episode, thank you! Please send feedback. We won’t be able to make this show great without your feedback! Link: https://lnkd.in/edK8MsMp #ai #machinelearning #data

I had a lively and thought-provoking conversation with my friends Rob Holland and Jennifer Agnes on Cynozure's "Navigating the AI Landscape" webinar. We delved into the current AI landscape and some of the immediate opportunities ahead. We all agreed that as businesses shape strategies to leverage AI, it is vital that they stay focused on their core strategic imperatives, while considering the role of humans, the challenges/futility of integrating AI into existing operational frameworks, and the critical role of leadership in driving transformation that extends beyond technology investment and traditional approaches to L&D. Easy to say, hard to do!   Listen in now and let me know what you think!  https://lnkd.in/dPvp-pFc

I joined Arnab Chakraborty for the latest episode of the #Accenture AI Leaders Podcast. We had a great discussion where we covered #ResponsibleAI, the transformative impact of #GenAI on #talent dynamics and the need for organizations to establish a robust risk-reward assessment to navigate the potential risks and rewards associated with Gen AI. Listen to the full discussion. https://lnkd.in/gmKHBZPe