Why Blame the Messenger?

What separates the good guys from the bad guys?

Hollywood once made it really easy to distinguish because all the good cowboys wore white hats while the bad ones wore black hats. 

I wish it were that easy in our world, and that the answer was technology. What better way to identify the heroes and the monsters…right? 

But it just ain't that simple.

As always, something in my world’s view inspired me. This time, it was the Advanced Corporate Director Seminar that I was once again privileged to attend at Harvard Business School Executive Education, a continuation of a series of courses and certifications I have participated in for the past few years. 

We study, analyze, and discuss case after case….all from the POV of a Board of Directors who have accountability for the governance of an entity—public, private, and NGO. 

Given so much of the global focus on AI…(what else is new), the question arises...Where does accountability sit, not just for implementation…but for operation, and if anything goes wrong (It will and has….There are already several lawsuits), who holds the bag on the issues? 

Here is my framework…

Technology in and of itself is just an enabler, a purely neutral enabler with no real flavor or personality that takes on the persona of whatever it is asked to enable, regardless of what brand name or label defines it. And, yes, often the biases of the creators…a true and present issue.

Take drones, for example. Sometimes it's visions of happy and excited viewers watching an incredible sky show…..Other times, photos and videos of destruction are shown, "taking out assets" quickly and reliably...as killing enemies without endangering the attackers is the prime directive and sky show. 

The truth is that it's always been like this. Firecrackers are wonderful for celebrations, lighting the skies with color, sound, and motion, but the same core technology is the DNA for many weapons of war.

And on and on...You can probably think of just as many, if not more, examples than I can.  

The bottom line is that there are no white hats or black hats in the technology itself, as even biotech, which in so many ways is focused on saving the world, is in so many ways focused on destroying it, too.

Once again, it all comes down to people...because when the bad guys get hold of technology, the enablement that we savor becomes the power we fear. 

AI is no different and more complex. At its source is a reflection of programmers and the implementation of its users...and over time...of its own learning. 

Much like the villains in a James Bond movie or the protagonists of our superhero fantasies, bad guys are not constrained and love to use technology; they will find a way to use even the most seemingly benign tech as weapons of mass destruction. (I'm using that term liberally.) 

Therefore, it is up to the rest of us to think about what we really are enabled to do, given the amazing technology at our disposal, and to make more and bigger conscious choices to be the good guys, no matter what our hat fashion might be. (I like black cowboy hats, by the way.)

A final thought from an American scientist of the last century, Dr. Herbert Simon:

“There are no morals about technology at all. Technology expands our ways of thinking about things, expands our ways of doing things. If we're bad people we use technology for bad purposes and if we're good people we use it for good purposes.” 

I would posit that AI might have changed the game by adding a new layer to Herbert’s view….And if technology operates on its own, the source of good or bad might not be the issue any longer. 

It's up to us, folks. We need to overwhelm the world with good-purposed technology and change it all for the better.

We need to be accountable. As you deploy AI, you should (and many are):

• Have a governance framework in place with clear and powerful protocols.
• Put a specific name next to every use case for accountability.
• Establish regular reviews and share learnings across the organization.
• Be agile and react quickly because you will learn on the fly.
• Be the moral force.

What do you think?