What HR leaders and business partners need to know about AI and ML

22 November 2023 marks 60 years since Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F Kennedy. The 35th president of the United States knew plenty about handling pressure in uncertain times. JFK commanded patrol torpedo boats during World War II, was at the helm during the Cuban Missile Crisis and signed the first nuclear weapons treaty a month before his premature death. 

What would the youngest-serving US president have made of modern-day pressures, not least the advancement of AI in the post-pandemic world? Kennedy's observation that "the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis'" is perhaps apposite. "One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity," he explained. "In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognise the opportunity."

CFOs and CHROs would be wise to heed JFK's words and recognise the opportunity presented by AI. Admittedly, they have had it more challenging than most since the start of the COVID-19 crisis and during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. And, considering CFOs and CHROs have seen their list of responsibilities multiply in recent years, they may not have the time or inclination to engage with a technology that, as many predict, will cut human jobs and possibly slaughter humanity, according to some doom-mongering experts.