Want to take over the world using AI? Contrary to popular belief, AI technology isn’t going to design a plan for AI-enabled world domination for you. (And don’t hold your breath, it won’t be doing so anytime soon.) Instead, it is on you to identify the untapped, world-changing business opportunities that best leverage AI’s unique strengths and circumvent its limitations. How do you do that? Simple: Think like a supervillain — in a good way.

Supervillains Align World-Changing Outcomes With Unexploited Technological Opportunities

The best supervillains are archetypical tech entrepreneurs. They look at a technology in a novel way and figure out how to adapt it to drive outcomes with consequences at scale — whether that be Ernst Blofeld using an orbital laser to hold the world ransom or Lex Luthor blowing up the San Andreas fault to increase his inland property values. How is that different from Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos taking over our lives with smartphones, social media, and online shopping?

  1. Steve, Mark, and Jeff succeeded.
  2. They were much better at government relations.

We Need More AI Supervillains

The barriers to unlocking the potential of AI are not a lack of data scientists, GPUs, or R&D. Instead, it is the paucity of leaders who can align the recently developed AI technologies — like deep learning for computer vision, natural language processing, and speech analytics — and fashion them into powerful new business models. The bad news is that you can’t hire a data scientist to do this for you. The good news is that everyone can think like an AI supervillain.

Interested in learning more about how to think like an AI supervillain? Join us at Forrester’s Data Strategy & Insights 2019 Forum on November 5–6 in Austin, Texas to reimagine your business with artificial intelligence. Check out the full agenda here.