OECD Publishes AI Risk, Benefit, and Policy Imperative Analysis for Policy Makers

by Zachary Barlow

February 18, 2025

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a standard-setting institution that spots issues for policymakers in a variety of areas. Their Expert Group on AI Futures recently released a report outlining some of the biggest risks and opportunities in AI. In the report, the group outlines a number of potential AI benefits, here are the top five:

  1. accelerated scientific progress, such as through devising new medical treatments;
  2. better economic growth, productivity gains and living standards;
  3. reduced inequality and poverty, aided through poverty reduction efforts and improved agriculture;
  4. better approaches to address urgent and complex issues, including mitigating climate change and advancing other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
  5. better decision-making, sense-making and forecasting through improved analysis of present events and future predictions;

Additionally, the OECD gives us the other side of the coin outlining major risks associated with AI which they list as:

  1. facilitation of increasingly sophisticated malicious cyber activity, including on critical systems;
  2. manipulation, disinformation, fraud and resulting harms to democracy and social cohesion;
  3. races to develop and deploy AI systems cause harms due to a lack of sufficient investment in AI safety and trustworthiness;
  4. unexpected harms result from inadequate methods to align AI system objectives with human stakeholders’ preferences and values;
  5. power is concentrated in a small number of companies or countries;

While the report is primarily intended for policymakers this information is also valuable to companies and compliance professionals. Not only does it give insight into how policymakers are thinking about AI risks and opportunities, but it makes us consider how AI might affect our companies and clients. Understanding the dual nature of AI is critical to effectively managing it. Know your company’s AI-related risks and opportunities and build policies to work towards the benefits and mitigate the harms.