MIT Sloan Management Review Article on AI-at-Scale Hinges on Gaining a ‘Social License'

Businesses must make explicit efforts to build trust with all stakeholders if AI implementation is to succeed.

In January 2020, an unknown American facial recognition software company, Clearview AI, was thrust into the limelight. It had quietly flown under the radar until The New York Times reported that businesses, law enforcement agencies, universities, and individuals had been purchasing its sophisticated facial recognition software, whose algorithm could match human faces to a database of over 3 billion images the company had collected from the internet. The article renewed the global debate about the use of AI-based facial recognition technology by governments and law enforcement agencies.

About the Author

François Candelon is a managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group and the global director of the BCG Henderson Institute. Rodolphe Charme di Carlo is a partner at Boston Consulting Group and an ambassador at the BCG Henderson Institute. Steven D. Mills is a managing director, partner, and chief AI ethics officer at Boston Consulting Group.

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