Why AI strategy needs more pessimists

Look around the table in many AI discussions and you will find a familiar mix: an innovation lead, a technology lead, a data lead and, often, a supplier. All capable people. All, by the nature of their roles, optimists.

That is not a criticism. Optimism is what gets pilots started. But a room full of it tends to produce the same result: enthusiasm mistaken for evidence, and plans with no answer to the question "what if this doesn't work?"