Massimo Buonomo is a globally recognised thought leader in artificial intelligence, ethics, and governance. A former UN Global Expert and now International AI Expert at the IEC, he helps shape how industries build responsible AI systems.
In this interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, Buonomo addresses the ethical challenges of AI—from privacy and bias to transparency and accountability—and explains what business leaders often misunderstand about deploying emerging technologies.
His insights are essential reading for anyone navigating how AI will transform industries, reviewer evaluations, and consumer tech adoption in a way that safeguards rights, prevents harm, and supports innovation.
Q1. AI adoption is accelerating across every sector, but ethical risks remain a concern. From your perspective, what are the most pressing ethical challenges businesses must address when using AI?
Massimo Buonomo: “General AI ethical issues are the following.
“First of all, we should ask ourselves: might AI and algorithms infringe fundamental human rights, from privacy and data confidentiality to freedom of choice?
“How can we ensure that social and cultural stereotypes are not replicated in AI when it comes to gender discrimination? How can we ensure accountability when decisions and actions are fully automated? How do we ensure that AI is developed in a transparent way?
“As we know, image generators can create almost lifelike images, which has raised concerns about artistic integrity and abuse. AI has been accused of propagating human biases, namely because AI technologies are trained using data provided by humans. There are possible mitigations of the potential for biases by examining the underlying data used to train AI systems.
“There are concerns about data privacy, security, and usage practices. Then there is the issue of sentient machines. As we know, when they receive a prompt, chatbots analyse the pattern to predict what a human would be most likely to say in that situation.
“Their responses are refined by human engineers. The end result is often a realistic simulation of human conversation, but the main difference between chatbots and autocomplete is that ChatGPT will write far longer swathes of text on almost any subject you can imagine.
“Even with these powers, chatbots are programmed simply to follow human instructions. There is little scope for them to develop faculties that they have not been trained to have, including of course, emotions.”
Q2. When you engage with executives, what misconceptions do business leaders most often have about emerging technologies such as AI?
Massimo Buonomo: “I would say the most common misconceptions about emerging technologies of business leaders is that they can face the challenges of those technologies by themselves. This is amazing to say, but it is the truth.
“Let’s come to the basic issue. The use of AI implies that the company must transform its business. It should have an AI expert give a presentation or hold regular advisory meetings. AI experts should understand how to commercialise a product using AI and see the impact of AI on the company’s activity.
“There will be a need for AI and cybersecurity experts in every board of directors and, in general, stakeholders with an entirely different set of skills and backgrounds. So there should be a new approach for boards of directors. Under new US regulations, companies will need to disclose whether their entire board, specific board members, or a committee are responsible for cybersecurity and, soon, for AI.
“This includes the process of informing the board about cybersecurity risks, how frequently this topic is discussed, and how the board considers these risks as part of its broader business and risk management strategy.
“Finding individuals who not only possess the necessary technological knowledge but also exhibit a global mindset and can fully fulfil the future responsibilities as independent directors is a complex task.
“Independent directors and board executives must be capable of strong leadership and strategic thinking. They must also be skilled in governance, compliance, and decision-making, and be dedicated to the organisation’s performance and shareholder value.”
Q3. You’ve spoken at conferences worldwide. What is the key message you want audiences to take away from your talks on AI and technology?
Massimo Buonomo: “Well, I like this question because it comes to exactly what the messages I give go through to the audience. In general, people at my conferences say: “Mimo explains difficult things in an easy way.”
“I think this is very important, because there is no point in being super prepared if, when you talk to people, they do not understand what you are saying. It is vital not only to know well what you are talking about, but above all, to be able to communicate that to your audience. I think I am able to do that.”
This exclusive interview with Massimo Buonomo was conducted by Mark Matthews of The Motivational Speakers Agency.