The sea-change in artificial intelligence over the last few years resulted from a bet, placed in a couple of university and industrial labs a decade ago, that a sleepy line of research could come to life with a lot of data and a lot of computational resources.  The results have surprised even the most ardent supporters, and the subsequent deployments of working AI systems have by turns captivated and alarmed the public.  Both the power and limitations of these systems are difficult to appreciate, which is an obstacle to informed public debate and the shrewd use of these tools in business and government.

Nearly all jobs in finance and management will be touched by AI, but relatively few will be completely eliminated.  Instead, one should think of tasks being replaced by AI, rather than jobs, which will place a premium on people knowing where and how this technology can be deployed.  There are also many societal, ethical, and legal issues that arise, and tomorrow’s business leaders must be attuned to the implications of this technology in these areas.