WEBVTT

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Staying on top

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of this really rapid moving landscape

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is actually very critical at this moment.

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AI is moving fast.

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ROI expectations are rising,

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and leaders everywhere
are racing to figure out

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what it actually takes to
build an AI-ready organization.

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To help us understand and
make sense of this moment,

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I'm joined by two people
at the very center

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of this conversation globally,

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Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Dylan Bolden.

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Many people call Dr.
Li the godmother of AI

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and for good reason,

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she created ImageNet,

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which is the database

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that literally taught computers to see.

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That breakthrough made possible
everything from Google Lens

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to self-driving cars.

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And today as co-founder
and CEO of World Labs,

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she's building large world models,

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AI that doesn't just process data,

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but understands and navigates
the physical world around us.

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And Dylan Bolden has spent
over two decades helping

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the world's most complex
organizations figure out

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what's next.

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He's managing director
and senior partner at BCG,

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and in that role, he leads the
firm's global thinking on AI

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and its impact on business.

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Dr. Li, Dylan, welcome.

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Thank you.

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Glad to be here.

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One of the headlines

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that's dominating almost every newspaper

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is about AI-related layoffs.

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And while that is true,
there's been a counterstory

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that isn't getting enough attention

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and that some of the earliest
actors are now rehiring people

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because they realize, wait a minute,

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we let people go too soon.

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Dr. Li, what does the evidence say

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about what happens when you
strip out humans from AI?

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Duarte this is a very, very complex topic.

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It's complex, first, AI is still new,

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so the whole labor market impact

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is still unsettled.

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There's a lot to be played out.

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You know,

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are we really seeing a shift

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of labor market?

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Is some pockets of this
too fast, too slow?

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We don't know yet.

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One thing is for sure: it's changing.

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Technology changes labor market.

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Technology changes workflows.

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That's one aspect.

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Another aspect is that
what's our relationship

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with this technology?

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How much is collaborative?

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How much does AI take over certain tasks?

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How much should we use
AI as a human intertwine,

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in the loop together?

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Some of the most seasoned

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and expert software engineers
find the current tools,

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whether you're talking
about Cursor, clock code,

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Codex--these tools
actually very empowering

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that it can superpower
and speed up their work

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when they can use it in
a very sophisticated way.

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In the meantime,

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the more junior-level software engineers

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are still catching up.

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It's the level of empowerment

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we're not seeing it as
much in the junior level

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as the senior level.

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There's always a question
of layoffs versus upskilling

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your talent,

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and BCG's AI radar says about 75%

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of CEOs are actually pushing to upskill.

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Is that something that there's
a hard business case for,

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or is that just idealism?

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No, I think it's just math.

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I think what's interesting
is when that study came out,

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I think it was counterintuitive
to some people.

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And I think for some CEOs,

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some CEOs who aren't really familiar

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with AI instantly think
about replacing humans.

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But I think the ones that get
it, they realize that, look,

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the one thing that AI
doesn't have is context.

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It doesn't

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have human judgment.

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And so the better business decision

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is actually to upskill your people

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and to make sure that if you're
in a supply chain function

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or you're in a finance function,

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somebody's been in the supply
chain role for 15 years,

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that's 15 years of
institutional knowledge,

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of context around the business.

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And so figuring out ways
to upskill that person

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to actually get them to work with AI

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is a much better business decision.

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So Dylan, when we look at
the way corporate executives

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are leading the change towards AI adoption

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and transformation, what
advice do you give them to do

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so compassionately?

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Is that even possible?

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So I think for CEOs,
the ones that I've seen

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that have led well here are
ones that sort of start with

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what's going to change,
what do they think is next?

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And then how they think the
role is going to change.

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And I think if you're honest,

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but then you present an optimistic future

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of how humans work with AI

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and how the role will shift over time,

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I think you can actually,

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you can lead in a compassionate way

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and actually drive change
much more effectively.

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BCG's, AI radar puts only about 15%

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of CEOs in that trailblazing category.

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What do the 85% need to
do to get to that point?

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For the 85%,

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it's actually not about bigger budgets

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and more money, interestingly,

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it's about actually getting more specific.

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Picking the three or four places

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where you really think
you can make a difference

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in the business and leaning in there,

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getting outside of the pilots and the labs

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and actually getting into the business

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and making it happen and
putting it into a plan.

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So there's definitely room
for the 85% to catch up,

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but they've got to move quick

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because the trailblazers

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are really accelerating.

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Dr. Li, when I look at Dylan's data,

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I can see that it puts CEOs firmly

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in the driver's seat on AI.

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So from your perspective, what
is real AI leadership require

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at the top of an organization?

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Yeah, I do agree with Dylan
on this because, look,

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AI is extremely transformative technology.

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It's also extremely horizontal from

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operational optimization
to delivering best product

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and customer experiences
to business intelligence

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to optimizing daily work.

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AI it can play many roles.

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So for the top of the company, for CEOs,

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I think knowing this technology,

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knowing the strategic
opportunities and risks

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of this technology

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and staying on top

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of this really rapid moving landscape

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is actually very critical at this moment.

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Thank you so much, Dylan
Bolden and Dr. Fei-Fei Li.

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Thank you.
Thank you.