Volume 8 – 4 December 2024
Look Forward
Artificial Intelligence
In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, AI is a transformative force revolutionizing business, the economy and society. American educator Nicholas Murray Butler famously divided society into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who have no notion of what is happening. The disruption created by AI and generative AI presents an opportunity for leaders to drive innovation and solidify their position among those making things happen.
AI, often perceived as an overnight success, is the result of decades of development. This technology presents opportunities and risks, stemming from its core capabilities and diverse applications across industries. As innovation accelerates, our understanding of AI’s potential and implications continues to evolve.
At S&P Global, our mission is to Accelerate Progress as our world undergoes transition and systems become increasingly complex. We push beyond expectations and uncover insights to help companies, governments and individuals make an impact on tomorrow. In this volume of Look Forward, we aim to offer a balanced look at AI complexity, highlighting the opportunities and risks in three parts: AI and labor, AI and energy, and AI and society.
AI and labor: The integration of AI into the workforce is reshaping the nature of work itself. From automating routine tasks to enhancing decision-making processes, AI enables businesses to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and productivity. While this technological advancement raises concerns regarding job displacement, it also opens new opportunities for reskilling and upskilling the workforce, fostering a more dynamic and adaptable labor market.
AI and energy: The energy sector is undergoing a significant transformation. Barring innovations in the energy space, AI’s impact on datacenter and power demands could cause significant disruption to the grid in an otherwise generally resilient sector. However, this concern does not eclipse AI’s ability to facilitate positive transformation in the sector. By optimizing energy consumption, predicting maintenance needs and integrating renewable energy sources, AI can play a pivotal role in creating a more sustainable and resilient energy infrastructure. These advancements may contribute to reducing carbon footprints and pave the way for innovative solutions to global energy challenges.
AI and society: Beyond the realms of business and energy, AI's emerging impact on society is profound and far-reaching. From healthcare to education, AI is enhancing quality of life by providing personalized and efficient services. As we embrace these advancements, it is crucial to address ethical considerations and ensure AI is developed and deployed in a manner that promotes fairness, transparency and inclusivity.
As we delve into AI's transformative power, we invite you to join us in understanding how this remarkable technology is shaping our present and future. Together, we can harness AI’s potential to drive innovation and Accelerate Progress, creating a just, fair and equitable world for all.
S&P Global
Swamy Kocherlakota
Chief Digital Solutions Officer, S&P Global
Swamy Kocherlakota is Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Solutions Officer of S&P Global and the Executive Sponsor of Kensho, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology innovator within S&P Global. He is responsible for driving the Company's digital transformation and delivering productivity improvements for customers and colleagues.
With a focus on leading-edge technology, digital ecosystems and AI, Mr. Kocherlakota and his team are responsible for building a secure, scalable and resilient foundation that helps S&P Global power global markets.
Prior to joining S&P Global, Mr. Kocherlakota was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Technology Operations & Infrastructure at Visa Inc., where he oversaw global infrastructure and applications that processed more than 130 billion transactions annually.
Before Visa, Mr. Kocherlakota was head of Global Infrastructure Engineering and Architecture at Bank of New York Mellon Corp and led their infrastructure transformation. Mr. Kocherlakota has been recognized as a Distinguished Engineer at Lucent Bell Labs, where he managed technology for Lucent and its ventures.
In addition to his role as Chief Digital Solutions Officer, Mr. Kocherlakota sponsors S&P Global’s Asian Professionals for Excellence (APEX) People Resource Group, which is focused on building leadership competencies and increasing opportunities for personal, professional and community success for its members.
Mr. Kocherlakota is a Registered Representative of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University.
Featured Articles
Contributors
S&P Global Research Council Sponsors
S&P Global
Swamy Kocherlakota
Chief Digital Solutions Officer, S&P Global
Swamy Kocherlakota is Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Solutions Officer of S&P Global and the Executive Sponsor of Kensho, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology innovator within S&P Global. He is responsible for driving the Company's digital transformation and delivering productivity improvements for customers and colleagues.
With a focus on leading-edge technology, digital ecosystems and AI, Mr. Kocherlakota and his team are responsible for building a secure, scalable and resilient foundation that helps S&P Global power global markets.
Prior to joining S&P Global, Mr. Kocherlakota was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Technology Operations & Infrastructure at Visa Inc., where he oversaw global infrastructure and applications that processed more than 130 billion transactions annually.
Before Visa, Mr. Kocherlakota was head of Global Infrastructure Engineering and Architecture at Bank of New York Mellon Corp and led their infrastructure transformation. Mr. Kocherlakota has been recognized as a Distinguished Engineer at Lucent Bell Labs, where he managed technology for Lucent and its ventures.
In addition to his role as Chief Digital Solutions Officer, Mr. Kocherlakota sponsors S&P Global’s Asian Professionals for Excellence (APEX) People Resource Group, which is focused on building leadership competencies and increasing opportunities for personal, professional and community success for its members.
Mr. Kocherlakota is a Registered Representative of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University.
S&P Global
Shankar Krishnamurthy
Head of EssentialTech COE and Innovation, S&P Global
S&P Global
Nathan Hunt
S&P Global
Head of Content and Digital Marketing
Authors & Contributors
S&P Global Ratings
Miriam Fernández, CFA
Director, AI Research Specialist
S&P Global Ratings
Xu Han
Director, Ratings Research and Development
S&P Global Ratings
Michelle Keferstein
Associate Director, Credit Analysis
Michelle Keferstein is an Associate Director in the Sovereign and International Public Finance Practice in Frankfurt. She joined S&P Global Ratings in 2019 and covers a diverse portfolio of sovereign, government-related and international public finance ratings in Central and Eastern Europe. Michelle is leading the internal global cyber and AI efforts for both international public finance and sovereign ratings.
Before joining S&P Global Ratings, Michelle worked as an economist for the pan-European association of plastics producers. Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and a master’s degree in International Economics and Economic Policy from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.
S&P Global Ratings
Sudeep Kesh
Chief Innovation Officer
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Sheryl Kingstone
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Research Director, 451 Research
Sheryl Kingstone is head of the software experiences group, which includes the Workforce Productivity & Collaboration, Customer Experience & Commerce, Fintech and Macroeconomic research channels at S&P Global Market Intelligence. As a researcher, Sheryl tracks how businesses are spending on technology for the experience economy and how customer experience is a catalyst for digital transformation.
Specifically, she oversees the company's coverage of a variety of customer experience data-driven software markets spanning advertising technology, marketing, sales, commerce and service. She also is responsible for both consumer spending and IT tech spending research products.
Before joining S&P Global Market intelligence via acquisition, she consulted with several enterprise software companies and worked at companies in the enterprise data replication, transformation and database software market.
As a recognized thought leader with more than 25 years of experience in customer experience technologies, Sheryl was awarded the CRM Influential Leaders Award and was also the first female to be inducted into the CRM Hall of Fame.
Sheryl holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Business Administration degree from Simmons College.
S&P Global Commodity Insights
Ben Levitt
Associate Director, North American Power and Renewables
Ben led the research, design and development of "Power Crunch," an alternative power market outlook for North America that explores the potential for much stronger electricity demand growth and greater headwinds to renewables than those outlined in the Planning Case. Ben is also the lead analyst covering electrification trends in North America as well as the PJM power market.
Ben has authored numerous market briefings, insights and strategic reports covering a wide range of power market topics, including electrification, datacenters, renewables permitting and siting, demand response, federal and regional environmental credit markets, global power market trends, and electrolytic hydrogen production. With nearly a decade of experience in the electricity sector, he has shared his research at numerous client briefings and presentations at S&P Global Commodity Insights events, trade group conferences, and independent system operator stakeholder meetings and has been cited by several major media publications.
Prior to joining S&P Global Commodity Insights, Ben was a corporate development and strategy analyst for DTE Energy and a manager of economic analysis at Deloitte. Ben holds a BA from Northwestern University in Applied Math and Economics and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Chris Marsh
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Research Director
Chris is a research director in the 451 Research technology research group at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He leads the group’s research on workforce planning, productivity, collaboration and employee engagement technologies. He also works with the division’s customer experience research analysts in providing insights on the technology trends driving the experience economy.
Chris is a research director in the 451 Research technology research group at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He leads the group’s research on workforce planning, productivity, collaboration and employee engagement technologies. He also works with the division’s customer experience research analysts in providing insights on the technology trends driving the experience economy.
His specific areas of technology concentration include work management, visual collaboration, project and portfolio management, employee experience platforms and workforce analytics.
Chris has been a technology analyst for 13 years, seven of which have been as a program lead and team manager. He arrived at S&P Global Market Intelligence through its 2019 acquisition of 451 Research, which itself had acquired the Yankee Group in 2013, where he started as an analyst. Prior to that, Chris worked for Nokia in a global customer insights role, and in research consultancies focused on financial services research.
Chris holds an undergraduate master’s degree in international relations from St. Andrews University in Scotland, a postgraduate master’s in war studies from Kings College London, and a certificate in performance leadership from the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Dan Thompson
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Principal Research Analyst, Datacenter Services & Infrastructure, 451 Research
Dan Thompson is a principal research analyst in the 451 Research technology research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. He leads the Datacenter Services and Infrastructure team, which is charged with keeping tabs on the datacenter industry globally to better understand its trends and growth areas. His research includes analyses of datacenter providers, market size and supply/demand in key and emerging markets around the world. Dan also provides coverage of datacenter providers offering services beyond colocation, such as managed and cloud-type services.
Dan also provides research on the sustainability of the datacenter industry. Beyond just renewable energy purchasing and carbon offsetting, he has been investigating full life cycle emissions, including supply chain emissions, as well as efficiency gains and water usage.
Before joining S&P Global Market Intelligence, Dan spent 15 years as a practitioner in the IT industry, the last 10 years at a top managed/cloud service provider. Dan has worn many hats in the IT world, from systems administration to management, and was most recently an enterprise architect. In that role, he not only assisted in the launch of the company's security practice, but also created security-specific products and designed security into every solution launched to the customer base.
In addition to a good many IT industry certifications, Dan currently holds degrees in network security and forensics and information technology.
S&P Global Ratings
Bruce Thomson
Director, Global Social Specialist, Sustainability Research
Bruce Thomson is a Director and Global Social Specialist in the Sustainability Research team at S&P Global Ratings. Bruce leads the global research and thought leadership agenda on social topics and sustainable supply chains, aiming to advance understanding of social factors and their sustainability and credit impacts across value chains. He advises the company’s global network of sustainable finance and credit analysts on the effective integration of sustainability factors into issuer, project, and sector analysis.
Previously, Bruce led the North America Sustainability Advisory practice at ELEVATE Global, an ESG services company, where he advised many of the world’s most recognizable brands on strategies to optimize their global supply chains to protect and create value through social risk management. In addition, Bruce worked with asset management firms on pre-investment ESG due diligence as well as investment stewardship. Prior, he founded and led BrightLabel, a supply chain transparency and sustainability software startup, and worked for seven years as a trade economist at the World Bank, the UN, and the Office of the US Trade Representative during the Obama Administration, where he focused on driving economic advancement, protecting human rights, and alleviating poverty through international trade and value chain development.
Bruce received a master's degree in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University, where he concentrated in International Economics and Finance, and he graduated with honors in Political Science from Wake Forest University.
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