Fortune 500 fear AI

56% of Fortune 500 companies see AI as a risk to business, rather than an opportunity, which is a marked increase from just 9% who thought that in 2022, incidentally the year ChatGPT arrived.

Why does the Fortune 500 now see AI as a risk?

Two years ago, the majority of the Fortune 500 saw AI as an opportunity to increase productivity, innovation, and operational capacity. Now, the tables have turned, and over half, now believe that legal, regulatory, cybersecurity competition, innovation, ethical, operational, and escalating cost issues make AI more risky than beneficial.

Among the most fearful, are media and entertainment companies, with 91% of companies within this industry expressing concerns with the use of AI, closely followed by software and technology companies, with 86% worried about the impact of AI on their business. Over two-thirds of telecommunications companies, and over half of healthcare, financial services, retail, consumer, and aerospace companies have similar worries.

For example, in its annual reports, Netflix raised a concern that competitors deploying AI could gain a competitive advantage which would hinder its “ability to compete effectively,” harmfully impacting its operations, and Disney warned that AI could impact its business model and the way it created its entertainment products because “rules governing new technology developments remain unsettled."

Software giant, Salesforce, said its adoption of AI "presents emerging ethical issues" around data collection and privacy, and Telecoms company, Motorola, believes that because AI doesn’t always operate as expected, “data sets may be insufficient or contain illegal, biased, harmful, or offensive information,” which could negatively impact earnings and reputation.