With more businesses adopting AI strategies and implementing new methods of automation in 2025, it's wise to take stock and consider the potential risks of AI before introducing intelligent technologies into your business.
From ethical dilemmas to employee resistance, SoGlos explores seven of the biggest risks of introducing AI that Gloucestershire businesses need to think about.
Lack of transparency with AI systems
AI systems, especially deep learning models that learn without human intervention, can be difficult to interpret, which can lead to skepticism, distrust and even resistance in using these technologies from employees.
Lack of transparency makes it harder to understand how AI arrives at decisions, raising valid concerns about fairness and accountability; not to mention it makes it harder to diagnose bugs and train new starters on how to use it. For this reason, it's important for staff to understand the inner workings of their company's AI systems, from how data is used to how algorithms are followed, so they can have faith in its decision-making.
Ethical dilemmas
AI systems can inherit biases through data, which means there's a higher risk of them coming to unfair or discriminatory conclusions in decision-making contexts.
Employees may also morally object to using AI for a number of reasons, including concerns about AI-generated art doing damage to creative industries or the environmental impact of using AI technology, with data centres often using huge amounts of energy and water for cooling their servers.
Privacy concerns about AI technologies
As well as bias and discrimination, privacy is a key area of ethical concern when it comes to AI systems, which often collect and analyse a lot of personal data.
Not only does this raise concerns about privacy violations and the misuse of sensitive information, but the security risks associated with their use also increase as AI technologies become more sophisticated.
Cost of implementing AI systems
Investing in AI can be expensive, with the development and deployment of these complex systems incurring significant costs, whether you're implementing a cheaper, pre-trained model or a more sophisticated, custom-made system.
And it's not just the system that will cost you: data acquisition, ongoing maintenance and infrastructure to support it will all need to be accounted for. AI specialists can command considerable salaries, too, should you decide to recruit for one.
Operational risks of introducing AI systems
As well high implementation costs, businesses looking to introduce AI systems can face other operational challenges like system failures, errors or difficulties with integrating their new AI technology with existing systems.
It's one to pay close attention to when adding AI into business processes, particularly as system failures can frustrate customers, leading to a loss of trust or even damaging the company's reputation .
Regulatory compliance
Navigating the regulatory landscape and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations related to AI can be challenging, particularly as there's currently no general statutory regulation of it in the UK.
However, certain areas of the law cover AI regulation in practice, like GDPR which places some restrictions on automated decision making; the EU's AI Act also sets out legal obligations and financial penalties for misuse, based on different 'risk tiers'. Plus, with AI having been identified as 'an issue of growing importance' for the UK government, it's expected that more specific rules around responsible development and use will come into play in the near future, meaning the playing field is still evolving.
Worries about job losses
A recent study by workplace expert Acas revealed that one in four workers are worried that AI will lead to job losses in 2025, with people often afraid that AI will 'steal their jobs' by automating the tasks they would usually do.
To help assuage these fears, businesses should emphasise that AI can be used to support employees in their role and actually help them do their job, rather than take it away — check out 7 ways your business can use AI for good in 2025 for some of the best uses of AI for optimising your business operations and boosting staff morale
