Chief technology officers are concerned about Generative AI’s ‘shiny object’ problem

The Fortune CEO Initiative’s annual meeting gets underway this morning in Washington, D.C. (which, thankfully, remains open for business.) This is our community of CEOs who meet regularly to share ideas and best practices for maximizing their companies’ positive impact on society. Over the last seven years, they have been a force for change in business, driving the push for CEOs to step up on climate, diversity and inclusion, mobility, inequality, and more.

This year, however, the gathering occurs in the midst of a political backlash, as well as corporate backsliding. I expect that to be a central part of our conversation today. Technology also will be on the agenda, as it has been since the Initiative’s founding. Members agree that technology is neither good nor bad. But how you use it and what rules govern its use can make a world of difference.

On the agenda tomorrow are government officials including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), as well as top CEOs including Accenture’s Julie Sweet, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, Sanofi’s Paul Hudson, J&J’s Joaquin Duato, and ex-Merck CEO Ken Frazier. I’ll be reporting back here tomorrow.

On the topic of responsible use of technology: I led a dinner conversation last week with a group of chief information and chief technology officers that focused mostly on Generative AI. It touched on both the amazing opportunities opened up by this new technology as well as the potential costs and risks. What surprised me, for a conversation among technology leaders, was that the risks seemed to be more on their minds than the opportunities. Among those risks: The massive demand for computing power driven by the new technology, the challenges of protecting proprietary data, the uncertainty around intellectual property protection, the badly-named “hallucination” problem, and what one of the CTOs referred to as the “shiny object” problem. Because Generative AI is so easy to use, CTOs face questions from CEOs, boards and colleagues as to why their company isn’t adopting it more broadly and quickly. As one of the attendees said: “Everyone wants it. Everyone has a use case. But misuse is the biggest concern.”

Still, Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD which sponsored the event, said there are plenty of exciting business opportunities for using Generative AI. And his company is embracing those…with care and intention. “At AMD, it’s been so fun.”

More news below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

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