AI leadership series interview with Jonas Åkeson, Head of AI Technology and Innovation at Ericsson
As the risks and opportunities of AI technology grow, boards must plan how they will oversee this new technology domain.
We have spoken to Jonas Åkeson, Swedish business technology leader at Ericsson, about the prospects of AI and what C-level and boards should do in order not to be left behind.
How big is AI currently?
Jonas Åkeson: This is not something that happened overnight; I am not surprised by where we are today. It has developed over a long time, and we have close attention now with ChatGPT and the like. It is like all the stars are aligned now: We have the computer power; we have gathered a lot of data in all industries; there are a lot of defined algorithms out there; and we see an appetite to consume this in the real business. ChatGPT has put the finger on the topics, we see many C-level customers show large interest, and they want to learn and connect. It has moved from operational efficiency technology to real revenue uptake, there is a need for technology to stay competitive in many industries going forward, and we will see a big impact over the next five years.
How will you recommend the board and CEO to start with this?
Jonas Åkeson: One thing is competencies – to go beyond the hype of what is cocking. Many companies say that they are doing this and that, but, honestly, they are not. They are fooling themselves, the board and the leadership team, and they will lose time. The ones we have seen really shift maybe started small and saw the impact, and then they were able to show industrial use cases and build the muscle in the business and not in a centre of excellence. Yes, it will take a long time, but it will be an integrated part of the business and the organisational transformation, and I think that the ones doing that will win. Some companies and industries have so much legacy, and it will take a very long time and cost to transform this, and thus they will lose time. Faster competitors will come in from the sidelines. We also see this in the telco industry, where many will experience business challenges when newcomers without legacy come in from the sidelines, and the same will happen in other industries. It requires leadership and tone from the top to get this moving in the organisations. This area requires an agile way of working, and it requires experimenting and prototyping as several themes are running in parallel. It will challenge the mindset of many companies as well as their current ways of working. Change management and education are the biggest parts of the ability to succeed with AI.
The best combination will be industry subject matter experts and data science people as no one can get this to work alone; it is key with cross-functional collaboration.
What are the key risks that the boards should have on the risk map?
Jonas Åkeson: One theme will be to make sure that they have initiatives going on in the business, and that they are tracking concrete actions and use cases that are built in the organisation. Furthermore, ethical AI and regulation and which business implications it will have need to be on the risk agenda as, at the moment, we experience a lot of changes in regulation , which organisations are required to comply with, and they also need to be proactive on the regulatory implications of, for example, the EU AI Act and the EU Data Act. Access rights and intellectual property rights to the data we consume will also be an emerging and key risk. Another important and challenging topic will be to understand based on which data our AI is making decisions. How do we handle and ensure that we understand the logic and control the sources when the data change dynamically together with the algorithm, which is also changing dynamically?
Which recommendations would you give the boards?
Jonas Åkeson: Make sure that you have initiatives in the organisation; not all industries do. Some industries are more mature and natural adopters like the IT and telecom industry with strong catch-up in the healthcare and automotive industries. Make sure that you have one-two persons who have some insights. You will thus have some persons close to C-level who understand the topic, and who can facilitate and drive the needed change in the organisation. This should be on the financial plan in every business unit, and there should be a line item , money and tracking of progress. The most successful organisations we have seen so far have initiatives in the P&L which also are the business where it needs to be to create real business impact or customer value.
Trust will be important in AI, ethical AI and regulation. Companies will have to understand which implications it will have on the business, and this needs to be on the risk agenda. We are in a period with a lot of changes in regulation. It requires that organisations comply with regulation and are proactive regarding the regulatory implications.
This is a change management journey like many other transformations: It is 10 per cent AI tech, 30 per cent platform tech and 60 per cent organisational change management.
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