Demystifying AI For The Board
Heller Search Associates, Wednesday, June 4th, 2025
To guide corporate AI strategy, boards can learn from the history of disruptive innovations and ground themselves in business value, argues Tsvi Gal, CTO and Head of Enterprise Technology Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is inspiring both fascination and fear in boardrooms around the globe.
Directors are hearing that AI represents the next industrial revolution, and that the companies for whom they provide oversight must act fast or risk irrelevance. Yet at the same time, uncertainty persists among board members: What is AI really? How much of the hype is real? And how should boards engage responsibly to ensure that their respective companies unlock the potential value of AI while mitigating the significant risks that accompany these rapidly advancing capabilities?
The risks of failure are real. The IBM Watson for Oncology partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center is a notable example. Despite ambitious claims about AI's ability to recommend cancer treatments, the initiative was quietly dropped after spending over $60 million, as Watson struggled to interpret clinical data and expectations exceeded its technical capabilities.