Risks and uncertainties related to the development and use of AI could harm our business, damage our
reputation or give rise to legal or regulatory action.
We are increasingly applying
AI-based technologies, including generative AI, to our services and solutions, to how we deliver work to our clients, and to our own internal operations. In addition, we are creating new offerings to implement
AI solutions for clients. We have made significant investments in AI and are continuing to incur significant development and operational costs to develop and deploy our AI services and solutions for ourselves and for our clients. If we fail to
continue to develop leading AI services and solutions, including generative AI, we may lose our leadership position in this area and fail to realize the anticipated benefits of our investments in AI.
AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition, including from our own clients, who may develop their
own internal AI-related capabilities, which can lead to reduced demand for our services or solutions. As these technologies evolve, some services and tasks currently performed by our people will be replaced by
automation, including AI-enabled solutions, which will lead to reduced demand for our services and/or adversely affect the utilization rate of our professionals, if demand for those services is not replaced by
demand for new services. Leveraging AI capabilities for our internal functions and operations presents additional risks, costs, and challenges, including those discussed in these risk factors.
The development, adoption, and use of AI technologies is still in the early stages and involve significant risks and uncertainties, which may
expose us to legal, reputational and financial harm. AI algorithms and training methodologies may be flawed and datasets may be overbroad, insufficient, or contain biased information. Moreover, the use of AI may give rise to risks related to harmful
content, accuracy, bias, intellectual property infringement or misappropriation, defamation, data privacy, cybersecurity and health and safety, among others, and also bring the possibility of new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny,
litigation or other legal liability, or ethical concerns that could adversely affect our business, reputation, or financial results.
Evolving rules, regulations, and industry standards governing AI may require us to incur significant costs to modify, maintain, or align our
business practices, services and solutions to comply with US and non-US rules and regulations, the nature of which cannot be determined at this time and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Several jurisdictions where we operate are considering or have proposed or enacted legislation and policies regulating AI and non-personal data, such as the European Unions AI Act and the U.S.s
Executive Order on AI. These regulations may impose significant requirements on how we design, build and deploy AI and handle non-personal data for ourselves and our clients or limit our ability to incorporate
certain AI capabilities into our offerings.
While we aim to develop and use AI responsibly and attempt to identify and mitigate ethical
and legal issues presented by its use, we may be unsuccessful in identifying or resolving issues before they arise. Any failure to address concerns relating to the responsible use of AI technology in our services and solutions may cause harm to our
reputation or financial liability and, as such, may increase our costs to address or mitigate such risks and issues.
If we are unable to match
people and their skills with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, our business, the utilization rate of our professionals and our results of operations may be materially adversely
affected.
Our success is dependent, in large part, on our ability to keep our people with market-leading skills and capabilities
in balance with client demand around the world and our ability to attract and retain people with the knowledge and skills to lead our business globally. We must hire or reskill, retain and inspire appropriate numbers of talented people with diverse
skills, backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences in order to serve clients across the globe, respond quickly to rapid and ongoing changes in demand, technology, industry and the macroeconomic environment, and continuously innovate to grow
our business. For example, if we are unable to
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