Insights on Artificial Intelligence

From machine learning operations and organizational change to ethical considerations and emerging use cases, this is QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey’s latest thinking on how organizations can most effectively and responsibly use AI to create business value.

Featured Insights

What every CEO should know about generative AI

Generative AI is evolving at record speed while CEOs are still learning the technology’s business value and risks. Here, we offer some of the generative AI essentials.
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Article

How businesses can close China’s AI talent gap
– By 2030, the demand for individuals skilled in building AI products in China will outpace supply by a factor of three to one. Here’s what companies can do about it.
Article

Exploring opportunities in the generative AI value chain
– Generative AI is giving rise to an entire ecosystem, from hardware providers to application builders, that will help bring its potential for business to fruition.
Commentary

Generative AI is here: How tools like ChatGPT could change your business
– Generative AI and other foundation models are changing the AI game, taking assistive technology to a new level, reducing application development time, and bringing powerful capabilities to nontechnical users.

Scaling for impact

Article

The state of AI in 2022—and a half decade in review

– The results of this year’s McKinsey Global Survey on AI show the expansion of the technology’s use since we began tracking it five years ago, but with a nuanced picture underneath.
Article

How to unlock the full value of data? Manage it like a product
– Creating reusable data products and patterns for piecing together data technologies enables companies to derive value from data today and tomorrow.
Article

Scaling AI like a tech native: The CEO’s role
– Embedding AI across an enterprise to tap its full business value requires shifting from bespoke builds to an industrialized AI factory. MLOps can help, but the CEO must facilitate it.
Article

Winning with AI is a state of mind
– Companies capturing lasting value from artificial intelligence think differently, from the C-suite to the front line. Here’s how to make the shift from opportunistic efforts to a truly AI-enabled organization.

Optimizing data strategy

Article

Data ethics: What it means and what it takes

– Every company must establish its own best practices for managing its data. Here are five pitfalls to avoid based on our conversations with experts and early adopters.
Article

How data can help tech companies thrive amid economic uncertainty
– Amid rising pressure on tech companies to boost performance, better data management can pave the way to sustainable growth.
Article

AI-driven operations forecasting in data-light environments
– Too many companies still rely on manual forecasting because they think AI requires better-quality data than they have available. Nowadays, that’s a costly mistake.
Interactive

The data-driven enterprise of 2025
– Rapidly accelerating technology advances, the recognized value of data, and increasing data literacy are changing what it means to be “data driven.”
Interview

How a tech company went from moving data to using data: An interview with Ericsson’s Sonia Boije
– Ericsson’s head of data enablement explains how the company is enabling its people to make full and effective use of data.

Building trust

Article

Why digital trust truly matters

– Consumer faith in cybersecurity, data privacy, and responsible AI hinges on what companies do today—and establishing this digital trust just might lead to business growth.
Interview

Mozilla’s Mark Surman: Let’s make AI as trustworthy as seatbelts
– The Mozilla Foundation’s president explains that creating trustworthy AI products not only is ethically urgent but can also pay off in company profit and customer value.
Article

Localization of data privacy regulations creates competitive opportunities
– Around the world, new regulations are promoting data localization. To comply, companies must be agile in their investments, but those that get it right could increase their revenues and market share.
Article

Model risk management 2.0 evolves to address continued uncertainty of risk-related events
– Organizations this year plan to enhance their MRM framework capabilities—including risk culture, standards, and procedures—and to upgrade their validation resources with MRM 2.0 firmly on the agenda.
Article

What the draft European Union AI regulations mean for business
– Proposed EU rules are just one more step toward global AI regulation. Here’s how smart organizations are preparing for compliance—and managing AI risk.

Executive guides

Interactive

Executive’s guide to developing AI at scale
– Developing artificial intelligence and analytics applications typically involves different processes, technology, and talent than those for traditional software solutions. Executives who possess a solid understanding of the basics can ensure they’re making the right investments in their tech stacks and teams to build reliable solutions at scale. We’ve created an interactive guide to help.
Interactive

An executive’s guide to AI
– Updated with the latest artificial-intelligence developments, our interactive helps business executives learn the ABCs of AI.
Interactive

The executive’s AI playbook
– It’s time to break out of pilot purgatory and more effectively apply artificial intelligence and advanced analytics throughout your organization. Our interactive playbook can help.

DATA SCIENCE FOR PRACTITIONERS

Insights from our Medium blog by data science professionals, for data science professionals.

Framework-Centred Design: 3 Design Techniques to Create Technical Products
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3 Ways To Drive Value When Design And Analytics Collide
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Read all insights on our Medium blog

Industry perspectives

Report

On the brink: Realizing the value of analytics in insurance
– Insurers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa invest significantly in advanced analytics but have unlocked a fraction of the potential value. How do top performers tip the balance in their favor?
Interview

Mars exploration pushes the boundaries of AI: An interview with NASA’s Vandi Verma
– Take a seat at Mission Control as NASA’s Vandi Verma details the AI and software powering the Mars rovers and how her field of robotic operations has advanced over the past 20 years.
Interview

How LEGO plays with data: An interview with chief data officer Orlando Machado
– The iconic toymaker is unlocking the value from data to help rethink processes, surface new opportunities, excite consumers, and empower internal colleagues.
Article

The future is now: Unlocking the promise of AI in industrials
– Five proven use cases show how artificial intelligence is creating value for advanced industrial companies.

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More insights

Podcast - McKinsey Global Institute

Forward Thinking on the brave new world of generative AI with Ethan Mollick
– “I really worry that people are not taking this seriously enough … this fundamentally is going to be a shift in how... we work and how we interact at a level that’s as big as anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes.” A leading business school professor talks about why he thinks the technology underlying ChatGPT is so transformative that he is betting his career on it.
Article

The state of AI in GCC countries—and how to overcome adoption challenges
– Research suggests that AI uptake remains low and points to how companies in the region can overcome the hurdles delaying the capture... of AI’s potentially high rewards.
Interview

Author Talks: What is the key to unlocking digital transformation?
– McKinsey senior partners outline their new book designed to help companies harness the power of digital transformation.
Article

The state of grocery retail in Latin America
– Persistent inflation and shifting consumer preferences will test grocery retailers across the region. Four imperatives—supported... by investments in advanced analytics—could be critical to keeping pace.
Article

AI-powered marketing and sales reach new heights with generative AI
– AI technology has revolutionized marketing and sales; now, generative AI promises to disrupt the way B2B and B2C players think... about customer experience, productivity, and growth.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The art of data: Empowering art institutions with data and analytics
– A data-driven view of key metrics can help art organizations articulate value, reshape strategy, build resilience, and achieve... operational excellence.
Interview

Author Talks: Can you use your ‘brainpower’ to defend cognitive liberty?
– Duke professor Nita Farahany examines the promise and perils of neurotechnology developments and their impact on the last bastion... of freedom.
Article

Insurer of the future: Are Asian insurers keeping up with AI advances?
– AI’s potential for competitive advantages remains largely unrealized in the Asian insurance industry. There is a framework... for success: invest in AI not discretely but across the value chain.
Interview

Reducing climate-related property risk with AI
– In this roundtable, leaders from AI-enabled analytics platform ZestyAI discuss how artificial intelligence could help US property... insurers evolve their underwriting models to account for climate risk.
Article

Quantum technology sees record investments, progress on talent gap
– Investors buoy established quantum start-ups, technological progress continues—though at a slower pace—and more academic... institutions offer quantum programs.
Article

What is AI?
– Artificial intelligence is a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we usually associate with human minds.
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