Columbia Business School In the News

The rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry is due to experience tighter government oversight. With the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) monitoring the business practices of companies like OpenAI and Microsoft and the Justice Department's antitrust division ensuring fair competition within the sector, the US stands to correct course on regulating AI. In a June 2024 interview with CBS Moneywatch, Olivier Toubia, Glaubinger Professor of Business, expressed his concerns for the lack of regulation, citing that we have been “letting for-profit firms really shape our values as a society." Toubia described the act of businesses creating tools that influence actions and behavior as “frightening.” Toubia has also contributed to previous articles about AI for Quartz, Marketplace, Quirks, and more. Learn more about how the government plans to oversee the AI ecosystem and prevent monopolies in this ever-expanding industry.

In addition to providing opportunities for efficiency for students and employees, the rise of AI has also provided entertainment for its early adopters. Liz Reid, head of Google Search, attributed inaccurate (and often, funny) answers to questions to “data voids” and satirical websites. Seeing that the Internet has an incredible amount of bad data and misinformation, how will generative AI prevent its tendency to hallucinate or simply make up answers?In an article for Quartz, Columbia Business School Professor Olivier Toubia discussed how the downfalls of AI, as well as not being at the forefront of creating a reliable tool, can actually benefit Google. Even admitting to and rectifying mistakes that AI is known for, such as hallucinations, can help them to “build the perception that they are the responsible tech firm,” Toubia said.With AI search not going anywhere, learn how Google and other companies can embrace the disadvantages of artificial intelligence.