As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries globally, the Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard and the Harvard Business School (HBS) Club of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) hosted AI Elevate: From Readiness to Exponential Growth on December 13, 2024, in Dubai, UAE. This one-day conference provided business leaders, researchers, and government officials with crucial insights into AI strategy, industry transformation, and global market integration. The event covered practical AI applications, AI start-up growth, and public sector best practices, focusing on developing an AI-ready workforce and ethical AI governance.
Zain Verjee, an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and Executive Fellow at HBS, set the stage for the conference with her opening remarks, emphasizing the transformative power of AI and the need for responsible innovation. Saleh Lootah, President of HBS Club of the GCC, welcomed participants and outlined his vision for the conference not as simply an event, but as a transformation, and emphasized the need for the collective partnership of government, corporate, and academic participants. Karim Lakhani, Professor of Business Administration at HBS and co-founder of D^3, presented the challenges of AI that all leaders must confront.
Key Insight: AI’s Transformative Impact on Society
We stand at the brink of an era where artificial intelligence is not just advancing but it is fundamentally rewriting the contract between humans and machines.
Zain Verjee
Verjee highlighted the profound changes AI is bringing to every aspect of human civilization, from creativity and cognition to work and our understanding of intelligence itself and what it means to be human.
Key Insight: The Need for Ethical Frameworks and Human-Centric AI
The AI transformation] highlights the need for ethical frameworks, inclusivity, and human empathy to benefit humanity.
Zain Verjee
As AI systems become more advanced and pervasive, Verjee emphasized the critical importance of developing ethical guidelines and ensuring AI technologies benefit humanity as a whole. Verjee pointed out that the communications and media industry, her area of expertise, is already experiencing massive disruption due to AI technologies.
Key Insight: Dubai’s Emergence as a Global AI Hub
We chose to host this gathering in Dubai as our first international venue in recognition of the region’s emergence as a global hub for AI Innovation.
Zain Verjee
Verjee reflected on the growing importance of Dubai and the broader Gulf region in the global AI landscape. This recognition by Harvard’s D^3 and the HBS Club of the GCC highlights the region’s commitment to fostering AI innovation and its potential to shape the future of AI on a global scale.
Key Insight: The Three-Fold Challenge of AI Implementation
The three challenges—this learning challenge, this adoption challenge, and this transformation challenge—is a key thing that all of you will need to solve in your own personal settings.
Karim Lakhani
Professor Karim Lakhani outlined three critical challenges organizations face in implementing AI: learning about AI tools, adopting and using them in daily operations, and transforming business processes to fully leverage AI capabilities. He noted that while many recognize AI’s importance, few use it daily, highlighting a significant gap between awareness and practical application.
Key Insight: The Imperative of AI Adoption and Transformation
When companies failed to adopt AI, the internet, and mobile, they ultimately faltered or they suffered tremendously.
Karim Lakhani
Lakhani drew parallels between AI and previous technological revolutions. He warned that organizations and societies that fail to adapt to AI risk falling behind, much like those that were slow to adopt internet and mobile technologies, and even the printing press. Lakhani emphasized the urgency for businesses to embrace AI or risk obsolescence.
Why This Matters
For business, government, and academic executives, the insights from the AI Elevate conference underscore the urgency of embracing AI technologies while navigating their complex ethical and practical implications. The speakers’ emphasis on Dubai’s role as an AI innovation hub highlights the global nature of the AI revolution and the opportunities it presents for cross-cultural collaboration and learning.
The challenges outlined by Professor Lakhani serve as a roadmap for organizations looking to harness AI’s potential. By addressing the learning, adoption, and transformation challenges head-on, companies can position themselves at the forefront of their industries. Moreover, Verjee’s call for ethical frameworks and inclusivity reminds leaders of their responsibility to ensure AI benefits society as a whole.
As AI continues to evolve rapidly, events like AI Elevate provide crucial platforms for leaders to stay informed, share insights, and collaborate on responsible AI adoption strategies. The conference’s focus on practical applications, workforce development, and ethical governance offers a holistic approach to AI integration that balances innovation with responsibility.
Meet the Speakers
Zain Verjee is one of the world’s most respected and recognized journalists. She is well known as a former CNN anchor and State Department correspondent, who has made a successful transition into the world of communications and creative entrepreneurship. Her firm, Zain Verjee Group, builds communications products for emerging markets that empower citizens. She became an Executive Fellow of the Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard in 2024.
Saleh Lootah is the Chairman of the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Business Group, an industry association working under the Dubai Chamber. The industry body has pioneered efforts like zero food waste in the manufacturing sector through introduction of food loss and wastage protocol and the initiation of the Food Data Platform. He is the President of the Harvard Business School Club of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI). He is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Digital Data and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard and the Founder and Co-Director of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard.