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【Text/Observer Network Yang Rong】

On August 18, the Financial Times quoted a latest study as saying that the proportion of Fortune Global 500 companies that regard artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential risk to their business has "increased dramatically" compared with two years ago, now exceeding half, highlighting the comprehensive industrial transformation that this emerging technology may bring about.

According to reports, a survey by Arize AI showed that 56% of the Fortune 500 companies listed AI as a "risk factor" in their latest annual reports, a significant increase from 9% in 2022. Arize AI is a research platform that tracks public disclosures by large companies.

Among the Fortune 500 companies, 108 of them specifically mentioned generative AI, which can imitate humans to create text and images, in their latest annual reports, but only 33 of them saw this technology as an opportunity, and more than two-thirds of the remaining companies saw generative AI technology as a risk. The Financial Times commented that this shows that the impact of generative AI on various industries and leading US listed companies has already become apparent.

It is reported that companies that advocate that generative AI will bring more opportunities believe that more cost-effectiveness, operational benefits and accelerated innovation are its potential advantages. Companies that advocate that generative AI brings more risks believe that this emerging technology will intensify industry competition and may bring potential reputation or operational problems, such as ethical concerns about the potential impact of AI on human rights, employment and privacy.

The report pointed out that the media and entertainment industry is particularly concerned about the negative impact of AI, with more than 90% of the top 500 companies believing that AI is a business risk this year. Netflix, a US streaming service company with a market value of US$290 billion, warned in its latest financial report that competitors may gain advantages through AI, which will affect Netflix's "effective ability to compete and our operating performance may also be adversely affected."

In July 2023, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) protested in Los Angeles, arguing that AI could lead to fewer jobs in the entertainment industry. Financial Times

86% of software and technology companies expressed similar concerns. Salesforce, a US enterprise software provider with a market value of about $250 billion, said that the AI ​​it adopts "raises emerging ethical issues" in terms of data collection and privacy. The company acknowledged that its profit margins may be affected by the "uncertainty" of emerging AI applications, which means it may have to invest more to develop and test new models.

More than two-thirds of the telecommunications companies in the Fortune 500, as well as more than half of the healthcare, financial services, retail, consumer and aerospace companies, have also issued the same warning to investors. Motorola, an American telecommunications company, admitted that "AI may not always work as expected, and data sets may be inadequate or contain illegal, biased, harmful or offensive information," which may have a "negative impact" on its revenue and reputation.

The few companies that have championed AI’s potential benefits, such as healthcare groups Quest Diagnostics and Cigna, say generative AI is improving parts of their businesses, such as customer service, sample processing and claims analysis. IPG, the US advertising agency, says AI is “adding intelligence to content creation across the marketing spectrum”.

However, the report specifically mentioned that many Fortune 500 companies have pointed out that the potential risks of AI in the fields of law, regulation and cybersecurity have not yet been resolved. For example, the US media and entertainment giant Walt Disney Company warned that the "rules have not yet been determined" to manage the development of new technologies such as generative AI, which may hit Disney's existing business model, including its IP, content creation and peripheral product revenue.

Viatris, a US generic drug giant formed in 2020 by the merger of US generic drug company Mylan and Pfizer's off-patent brand division Pfizer Upjohn, said the use of AI solutions by employees or suppliers "may lead to the public disclosure of confidential information" and that personal data related to employees, clinical trial participants or others may be "accessed without authorization."

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