Exploring the uncontrolled risks of
artificial intelligence development
Heart Leadership University has launched an exploratory research project on one of the three major challenges of the 21st century: the risks of uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. While the topic has been regularly in the news since the release of ChatGPT, this project aims to address questions that have received little attention so far. Who are the major beneficiaries and losers of the massive deployment of artificial intelligence? What purposes is this development serving? Does the widespread use of automated decision-making via algorithms restrict human freedom of choice and/or the ability of humans, and in particular leaders, to make decisions by drawing on their emotional intelligence (intuition, empathy, courage)?
Project objectives
As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly tested and deployed across all sectors, HLU intends to contribute to discussions on the benefits and risks of this development. This will be done on three levels:
- On an individual level, and for leaders in particular, how might AI deprive humans of the ability to make decisions with sensitivity (intuition, empathy)? Will algorithms rob us of the capacity to make decisions in a “human” way? Will numbers and calculations always ultimately prevail?
- At the level of economic actors, who are the dominant players? What is the level of power concentration and what are the potential counter-powers? What are the impacts of the development of a data-driven economy in terms of value capture, power relations between economic actors, and sovereignty?
- On a global living, and human scale, can we expect the technologies and devices deployed to have a “sustainable” orientation or to be beneficial to the common good? Or are we, on the contrary, accelerating the exploitation, privatization, and hoarding of resources, and increasing inequalities…?
This is particularly important to help business leaders make informed decisions. Information and training aimed at this audience are often designed to encourage them to adopt AI without necessarily questioning its relevance or suitability to the specific challenges of their organization.
Prospective phase (2024-2025)
HLU, in partnership with Futuribles, a think tank on the future, and the CJD, has undertaken a prospective study to enable French business leaders to envision different AI deployment scenarios by 2035.
Three scenarios with a 2035 horizon, focusing on the role of AI in the contexts considered, have been developed:
- Almost the world after. Faced with an increasingly fragmented world, the rise in climate disasters, and its growing dependence on foreign natural resources, Europe has learned from these vulnerabilities to initiate an ecological transition based on resource efficiency. Digital consumption is limited, and sovereign AI models are being developed with targeted applications in the transition, social cohesion, and defense.
- Jules is watching you. After the massive crash of 2029, the United States is mired in an economic recession and severe internal social and political tensions. The decline in its international influence benefits China. In Europe, the liberal democratic model is discredited; authoritarian regimes are on the rise, as in France with the 2032 election of Jules, the first “permanent” president. He pursues a populist, pro-business, and techno-authoritarian policy, largely based on Chinese digital solutions, particularly in the area of security.
- Welcome to GAFAMLAND. Since Donald Trump’s election in late 2024, the collusion between private and public interests has only deepened. Big Tech companies have become meganationals, indispensable across all economic value chains. With priority access to energy and natural resources, they wield considerable political and social influence. Europe and France have become veritable digital colonies dependent on Big Tech solutions. With the exception of a few rare companies that have developed successful use cases, the continent has not seen the emergence of a competitive tech sector. The development of AI has led to a polarization of organizations (large companies vs. SMEs) and workers (destruction of low-skilled jobs, intensification of work in large organizations). The world of work has become AI-dependent and AI-driven.
During three creative workshops, these scenarios were presented to an audience of decision-makers (executives, business leaders) with the mission of imagining leaders and companies of 2035. In the following graph, they are classified according to their relationship with AI, and the place these technologies occupy in the organization and offering of their company.
Exploratory phase (2023-2024)
Conducted with Amal Marc and Laure Lucchesi, this phase provided an overview of the challenges at both a global level and for business leaders. The work was informed by literature reviews, expert interviews, and focus groups organized in partnership with the CJD (Young Business Leaders Center), in order to gather testimonies on how business leaders are questioning and positioning themselves in relation to the deployment of AI. Here are some of the lessons learned from this exploration.
Addiction, at the heart of global issues.
- AI is not artificial but extremely material – which poses a major challenge of dependence on resources (energy, water, metals), and of extended responsibility of the leader, from a sustainability perspective.
- Global competition in AI is largely dominated by the US/China duopoly, and the value chain by Big Tech. In this context, European companies are currently relegated to the role of developers of specific applications (use cases) and, more generally, to that of users of technologies produced elsewhere. This raises once again the question of dependence (economic this time) and the resulting control.
At the company level, the work has made it possible to distinguish areas of relevance for AI as well as use cases that can be explored:
- either because the AI systems would be required to operate in contexts that are too volatile and uncertain for them to be sustainably useful, questioning their real return on investment;
- soit parce qu’ils emportent des risques élevés de perte de recul, d’intuition ou de résilience pour l’individu comme pour l’organisation ;
- either because they are unethical or superfluous uses (fashion trend, hype marketing…), leading to a waste of resources.
The executives interviewed oscillate between fascination with a “magical AI” (with its lightning-fast practicality and speed, and now “generative”) and repulsion towards a “tragic AI.” More generally, while some identify the adverse consequences of AI deployment for their company and their leadership practices (loss of power, skills, weakened relationships, cyber risks, etc.), the link to global issues and the question of the executive’s responsibility within the confines of their company are clearly less prominent in their thinking.