ECS Thought Leadership on Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI (GAI) has the potential to revolutionize various aspects of society, but it is vital to address the governance, risk, and compliance concerns associated with this technology. Shayla Treadwell, ECS Vice President of Governance, Risk, and Compliance, and William Rankin, ECS Director of Governance, Risk, and Compliance, shared their thoughts on how best to strike the right balance between innovation and security.

In their article entitled, “Oh, the Possibilities: Balancing Innovation and Risk Around Generative AI,” Treadwell and Rankin outline ways to build an AI corporate responsibility framework, from preventing security threats to ensuring transparency and adhering to industry-specific guidelines and data privacy regulations.

Five key takeaways include:

  1. The challenge of balancing innovation and risk in AI: There are ethical and security implications related to the use of GAI in various domains. Organizations can mitigate the risks by adopting a corporate responsibility framework.
  2. The potential and pitfalls of large language models: Large language models (LLMs) such as GPT and BERT can generate realistic and relevant outputs, but also pose challenges such as disinformation, data leakage, and inference attacks.
  3. The importance of transparency and understanding AI: There is a real need for transparency in AI systems, which means that users can understand how the AI works and makes decisions. Transparency can help improve the safety and reliability of GAI, as well as secure employee buy-in and compliance.
  4. The key steps for building an AI corporate responsibility framework: There are several concrete steps that organizations can take to ensure ethical and compliant use of GAI, such as revisiting cybersecurity best practices, automating software updates and patching, developing an innovation sandbox, establishing an ethical governance committee, and updating policies and procedures.
  5. The benefits of striking the balance between innovation and risk in GAI: The article concludes that GAI has the potential to revolutionize various aspects of society, but it is vital to address the governance, risk, and compliance concerns associated with this technology. By implementing a robust corporate responsibility framework, organizations can harness the power of GAI while neutralizing the most dangerous risks.

The full article can be found on ECS’ website, and you can listen to the piece here.

Click here to learn more about how ECS is excelling in the AI space.

headshot of Shaylaheadshot of William