In 2024 we conducted a survey of over 500 international businesses. We wanted to understand how their approach to managing technology risk may have changed since our Technology Transformation report of 2022.
In 2022, we had asked GCs, senior in-house counsel and risk managers about their experiences and expectations relating to the use of new technologies. What were the principal drivers for their organisation in the adoption of business-critical technology? Did they have confidence in their management’s understanding of the risks associated with new technologies and the measures taken to mitigate those risks? Where did they see the greatest potential for disputes and how did they believe such disputes would be resolved?
We focused on sectors which are large-scale adopters of new forms of technology, including all subsets of AI (such as machine learning and generative AI): Consumer & Retail, Financial Services, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Media and Energy.
The results were eye-opening. Respondents believed that the appetite for investment in technology would accelerate, and indeed implementation of new technologies was a sheer necessity for their businesses. By the same token, they appreciated the risks connected with new technologies. However, they largely conceded that they did not have all the necessary systems in place to deal with those risks and they recognised the need to establish and regularly update those systems. They viewed AI as one of the main drivers for future technology-related disputes.
Two years later we asked ourselves:
- Has the landscape changed?
- Are there new drivers for the implementation of new technologies?
- Are new risks emerging?
- Were our respondents right in predicting that the use of AI would evolve as one major source of disputes?
In 2022, businesses were just starting to deploy AI (in particular generative AI) in their operations on a larger scale. Two years later, the use of AI had intensified around the globe and there would be more data to confirm or disprove the assumptions of 2022.
This led us to repeat and refresh our survey. The answers we received revealed some very interesting new findings. They form the basis of the 2nd edition of CMS’s Technology Transformation report, which we are happy to share with you. We hope you will enjoy reading and analysing the material we collected. We would be keen to learn whether the results and analysis match your experience and expectations.
