Chapter 1: The Landscape of AI Risks

Every year, as December rolls around, I disconnect from the digital world for two weeks. I avoid checking emails, Google Analytics, or social media platforms like Facebook. This year, just as my break ended and I logged back into Gmail at a rest area on the I5, I was met with an urgent series of messages from NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster.

NHK, akin to the BBC in the UK, is quite influential, and they sought my insights on the future of AI without delay!

In our interview the following day, the NHK reporter inquired about the most pressing AI risks for businesses in 2024. I had a wealth of thoughts, but one risk emerged as particularly critical.

A Spectrum of Risks

Artificial Intelligence is a burgeoning field capable of transforming entire industries, energizing economies, and altering our interactions with the world. Given the significance of AI, numerous risks accompany its rise.

Data privacy emerges as a major concern. Employees in sensitive sectors, such as healthcare and finance, are sharing confidential patient and client information with tools like ChatGPT, seeking diagnoses and strategies.

A recent survey indicated that 10% of healthcare professionals regularly use ChatGPT, with 90% considering its use in the future. These figures likely underestimate actual usage, as many engage with AI tools discreetly.

Allowing generative AI chatbots access to sensitive information without proper security measures is a reckless choice, considering their tendency to reproduce the data they are trained on.

Copyright issues represent another substantial risk in the AI domain. The New York Times has taken legal action against OpenAI for purported copyright infringements, while several lawsuits claim that training generative AI on proprietary content constitutes a copyright violation. The outcomes of these lawsuits are uncertain, posing significant challenges for businesses that might invest heavily in AI tools only to face legal hurdles later.

Hallucinations remain a critical risk as well. Although chatbots are advancing rapidly, they still generate false information, often presenting it confidently. For instance, lawyers faced penalties for including non-existent legal cases fabricated by ChatGPT in official documents.

Systemic Risks Beyond the Surface

Beyond these specific issues, AI introduces broader systemic risks to industries and economies. Recently, I examined how the new Midjourney Version 6 could potentially revolutionize the photography sector overnight. Tech-savvy content creators are already adopting this tool to replace stock images, a trend that is expected to grow as the technology improves.

Content creators are not the only ones at risk; professionals such as coders, accountants, and administrative staff could also see their roles transformed by AI advancements.

It's essential to recognize that technology has historically reshaped industries and economies—think steam engines, the telegraph, electrification, and the Internet. However, AI's rapid emergence is unprecedented.

Just a year and a half ago, generative AI was relatively unknown. Now, over half of the workforce utilizes tools like ChatGPT daily, with 55% believing that its output matches that of experienced employees.

The Foremost AI Risk

This leads us to the most significant AI risk for 2024, which I emphasized during my NHK interview. Contrary to expectations, the biggest risk is the decision to disengage from AI.

This may seem counterintuitive. Given the various concerns—privacy violations, intellectual property issues, and systemic disruptions—it's understandable that some individuals and businesses adopt a “wait and see” mentality regarding AI.

I frequently hear this viewpoint from consulting clients, who often say, “There are too many uncertainties surrounding AI. We don’t know how regulations will evolve or how legal disputes will resolve. Let’s hold off until we have clearer insights, then we’ll explore it.”

This approach is fundamentally flawed.

While avoiding AI may shield you from some risks, it also denies you access to significant enhancements in productivity and innovation. Research indicates that 63% of workers using generative AI feel it boosts their productivity, with over a third noting it alleviates mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on more valuable activities. Moreover, more than two-thirds of users report increased job satisfaction.

Thus, organizations that embrace AI now may cultivate happier, more efficient employees, resulting in a considerable competitive edge, especially in a challenging job market.

Compounding Advantages

The benefits are likely to multiply. Companies that integrate AI into their workflows today—rather than delaying for years until the technology matures—may find themselves significantly ahead of competitors who choose to ignore it.

Additionally, regulations and legal frameworks regarding AI are evolving rapidly. Industries that engage actively in shaping these developments will likely have greater control over outcomes and possess more experience managing the inherent risks of AI.

Riding the Wave of Change

I’ve observed this phenomenon in my own field, photography. The photography industry has faced numerous disruptions over the years, which spurred a quick response to the emergence of AI image generators in 2022.

As a collective, photographers worked to establish consortia to verify image origins, combatting AI-generated deepfakes. They also collaborated with regulators, such as the US Copyright Office, while leveraging unique strengths in areas like photojournalism that AI cannot replicate.

Consequently, even as the industry evolves, photographers remain ahead of the curve, actively managing risks rather than ignoring them.

Other sectors should adopt a similar proactive stance. For instance, the healthcare industry must investigate how generative AI could enhance health outcomes, improve medical guidance, and reduce errors.

This endeavor may involve navigating regulations like HIPAA and determining patient consent requirements before AI can access private data. Although these are complex and costly challenges to tackle, they must be addressed now.

By avoiding discussions about AI, industries may inadvertently exacerbate the very risks they seek to mitigate. For instance, if healthcare facilities neglect to explore safe AI usage, physicians may resort to using personal ChatGPT accounts, endangering patient privacy far more than if hospitals collaborated with AI vendors to develop secure internal systems.

Philosopher William James famously stated, “No decision is, in itself, a decision.”

To rephrase him, deciding that AI is intimidating and avoiding significant AI-related decisions is, in fact, a substantial decision—likely a detrimental one.

Instead of shying away from AI, it’s vital to engage with these technologies now. Organizations that confront the challenges posed by AI today will emerge stronger, better equipped to integrate AI responsibly and ethically into their workflows.

On the contrary, those that opt to ignore AI and defer action may find themselves overwhelmed by its impact. Given AI's disruptive potential, they might end up without a chance to address the technology at all.

I have experimented with thousands of ChatGPT prompts over the past year. As a full-time creator, I regularly return to a select few. I compiled these into a free guide titled "7 Enormously Useful ChatGPT Prompts For Creators." Download your copy today!

Chapter 2: AI Risks Every CEO Must Watch For in 2024

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