Navigating AI Ethics and the Innovation-Security Balance

Perceiving Digital Horizons: Navigating AI Ethics and the Innovation-Security Balance

In continuation to our deep dive into the AI revolution from Infogain Poland’s anniversary celebration and expert debate, the expert panel served up their opinions to thornier questions, which keep tech leaders awake at night. Catch up with Part One's exploration of AI's real-world impact here.

The blog will examine the ethical dilemmas and operational challenges that define responsible AI adoption and how new innovations must tackle the security conundrum with good effect.

The Ethical Imperative | The AI-Human Safety Handshake

"In our industry, ethics, privacy and anything related to that is vital," declared Jacek Drabik from Motorola Solutions, whose customers include police, fire, and ambulance services. His company's stance is uncompromising: they refuse to offer solutions that make critical safety decisions automatically without human intervention. "There is always somebody's health or life at the end, and we must be sure that decisions made in the course of action are taken by responsible people and not purely by software."

This human-in-the-loop approach reflects a growing industry awareness of AI's limitations and potential biases. IBM's Sławomir Kumka shared a telling example: "The company stopped using AI for image recognition related to observing cameras like CCTV due to issues with it." This decision demonstrates how leading tech companies are willing to step back from AI applications when ethical concerns arise.

The challenge extends beyond individual companies to entire ecosystems. Drabik noted that ethical considerations related to "religions, cultures, countries, privacy data and rules must be obeyed," which can significantly reduce AI adoption. Yet this deliberate pace might be exactly what we need as AI capabilities accelerate faster than our ability to govern them responsibly.

Scaling Innovation | Giving Ideas a Lease of Life

How are organizations balancing ethical concerns with the pressure to innovate? Our panelists revealed fascinating approaches to systematic AI innovation.

Infogain operates an "Ignis Idea Bank" program accessible to all 6,000 employees across various engagements and customer programs. "Employees look at current technology processes and business processes, then submit ideas of what they would like to change or become more effective," explained Rohit Nagpal. A committee reviews submissions, selects the top 20, and discusses implementation with customers from quality, timeline, and improvement perspectives. Furthermore, Infogain has made it imperative for all employees to participate in Gen AI courses and mandated 40+ hours of holistic personal and technology upskilling.

IBM takes an even more comprehensive approach with its 100,000 global workforces. "Every person must complete AI training and pass an exam," Kumka revealed. The company practices what it preaches by being "Client Zero" for testing their own products, with IBM's software division actively using Code Assistant to help developers deliver code more efficiently.

Perhaps most intriguingly, IBM runs "Explorer Rally" – an all-day event where employees propose AI solutions to improve their daily work, simplify processes, or reduce operational friction. Senior technical leadership selects the best solutions, creating a continuous innovation feedback loop that engages the entire organization.

Reliability Sphere | Testing Before Trusting

Sabre's Wojciech Gworek highlighted how their teams use AI to predict potential security threats and operational disruptions in airports and flights. Applications where reliability isn't optional are critical. Meanwhile, Motorola's approach remains grounded in rigorous validation: "All about testing, verifying, and trialing solutions before it's put into products and given to customers," emphasized Drabik.

The audience appreciated the candid insights on AI driving improved business potential

Upward & Forward with AI

As the expert debate came to a crescendo, with the audience wanting an encore for the insights; each leader offered their vision for navigating AI's future; sprinkled with optimism.

Rohit Nagpal from Infogain: "AI is a big revolution, as big as when the Internet came about, and it's going to transform and be there in all aspects of our life. My advice is to adopt and join it at the pace you feel comfortable."

Wojciech Gworek from Sabre: "AI is not a buzzword anymore. We have to use it. AI is not here to replace us. The future is still with humanity, but we have to start adopting AI and understand how we will be living with it in the future."

Jacek Drabik from Motorola: Sharing a personal example of AI.: "I use a running data website that predicts my time for a given distance. Thanks to that, I can check my watch and know exactly when I’ll reach the finish line. It gives my family peace of mind, and for me -  pleasure and convenience."

The final verdict? It does looks like the consensus is clear: AI's transformative power is undeniable, but success requires balancing innovation with ethics, automation with human oversight, and ambition with responsibility!

Businesses will chart their digital horizons however the question is not whether AI will shape our future, it is about how thoughtfully we will navigate that transformation.

We enjoyed bringing this blog series to you and strongly believe that these insights by the leaders will resonate with you and your businesses, as we collectively take the baton to become subsets of reliability and security in the Venn diagram of AI adoption and implementation. Read about bursting the AI hyperbole in Blog #1 available here

For more information or to schedule a demo of our AI-enabled services, please write to info@infogain.com.

Credit: Infogain Poland Team