Global Leaders Convene at Nasdaq to Discuss the Future of AI

Corporate leaders convened at Nasdaq MarketSite last week to discuss the future they see for artificial intelligence, and how they are planning to responsibly deploy AI technology.

CEOs and CFOs from the world's largest companies on AI shared their plans on Wednesday at the 12^th annual CEO Investor Forum hosted by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP).

Among the long-term plans and strategic insights shared by leaders at AstraZeneca, EXL, Sigma Lithium Corporation, Kore.ai, Tata Consultancy Services and more highlighted how AI will create new, more empowered jobs, and how return-on-investment calculations remain crucial given the costs of the technology.

“There's not an industry or a company that's not going to be affected by AI in some form or fashion, whether it's accelerating their business plans or thinking about the competitive landscape and how they're going to navigate all that,” said Nasdaq President and Head of Capital Access Platforms Division,   Nelson Griggs, who led a panel on AI's role in long-term business strategy.

During a panel moderated by Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs, panelists discussed the intersection of AI innovation, governance and sustainability.

An Eco-System Approach

“We think forums like this – especially in the early days of seeing how generative AI is going to impact the industries and businesses – are really critical to get thought leadership in front of companies so they can digest that and see how they can best translate into actual steps.” said Griggs. 

Key to those decisions will be how companies navigate competitive innovation on the one hand and governance and risk management on the other. Griggs called that balancing act “the challenge of the day,” noting that business leaders see the enormous opportunities AI represents but also see privacy and security as central business imperatives.

“You need to have a very thoughtful plan about how you manage that with all of your stakeholders, from the employees bottom up and also the management top down and have them work closely together to make sure you have a governance plan that is effective for your company,” he said. “And marry that with all the opportunities you see with AI.”

Collaborative strategic insights will be increasingly valuable as companies dive deeper into AI implementation. Speakers agreed at this week’s forum. That is true for both the innovation and the governance planning going forward, according to CECP CEO Daryl Brewster.

“We've seen such incredible growth in the AI world, and we've seen that in valuations of companies,” he said, adding that technology alone is not enough: “AI itself does not create value – it's the use of AI that's really going to create value.”

And as both the promise and concerns about AI continue to grow, intra- and inter-company conversations are more essential than ever, Brewster emphasized. “When you look at some of the research, a lot of people think that AI stands for ‘Afraid of Innovation’ – whether it's privacy, security, or other areas, people are really worried about that,” he said. “We've got to bring organizations throughout the world along about where the benefits are and make sure we have responsible practices as we do so.”

The Future of the Boardroom

While this week’s CECP forum offered a public opportunity for leaders to come together at MarketSite, such conversations are ongoing throughout the year with the thousands of companies who work with Nasdaq, Griggs explained.

Not only is Nasdaq providing AI-powered technology and services for helping companies become more efficient and effective, but they can also serve an advisory role to corporate boards given the organization’s broad view across industries and geographies.

“We can bring new insights to the board with that scale we have across the globe to help companies think through: What are key board topics?” Griggs said. “And having the access to generate AI with our client base, the data we have access to, we can provide some very, very valuable insights to boards to make their meetings more impactful.”

Earlier this year, Nasdaq introduced new artificial intelligence capabilities for its Nasdaq Boardvantage® board portal, with the goal of helping board members and executives reduce cumbersome processes and energize their day-to-day work.  Integrating AI into Nasdaq Boardvantage helps to save time and cut costs for board members and corporate secretaries – helping reimagine their boardroom experience.

For its part, Nasdaq will continue to lead in both the development of industry-defining AI applications and in working to partner with the world’s top AI companies.