Vista's Robert Smith: How to prevent AI from further widening the racial wealth gap

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has been stunning in both its speed and impact. According to data from Goldman Sachs, investment in AI is expected to reach $100 billion in the U.S. and $200 billion globally by next year. Last year, in private equity alone, generative AI (GenAI) investments reached $2.18 billion – double from the year before.

Yet, while we often hear about the boundless promise of AI – as we should – we also need to pay more attention to the careers, lives and communities it will disrupt, including those who have so far been left out. For example, according to a recent McKinsey study, Black Americans are 10% more likely to be working jobs slated for AI automation. In addition, the same study anticipates that AI will disrupt 4.5 million jobs for Black workers. This disruption has the potential to impact billions of dollars in Black economic potential and growth. If current trends hold, the new wealth created by GenAI alone will increase the racial wealth gap by $43 billion annually, according to McKinsey.

We have already seen firsthand how the rapid adoption of technology can exacerbate gaps and create new divides. One only needs to look at the creation and adoption of computers and the internet. In 1987, economist Robert Solow famously claimed that "you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics." Today, we almost take for granted how much productivity the digital age has brought. But, that digital age has also created a digital divide, which exacerbates racial economic gaps. And, one of the legacies of failing to address this digital divide and ensure broadband access to Black and other communities without access to resources and opportunities has been limited engagement with these tools.

How to prevent another wealth gap

As we stand at the beginning of this next revolution in AI and its early waves of value creation, our urgent task is to prevent another gap. We can do that by empowering all people to take part and be leaders in this evolving field, allowing our economy to reap greater benefits. That begins with infrastructure that supports AI enablement for all, including education on AI tools, access to the internet and power to compute.

One model for this is the work being done by Student Freedom Initiative (SFI). As a first step, we must commit to eliminating the existing digital broadband divide. SFI has been working hard to close the digital divide in Black communities, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 82% of which reside in broadband deserts. This is a critical gap that must be closed to provide the next generation of diverse leaders with the resources, education and technical access needed to master this evolving tech.

We must also double our efforts to provide education around these tools. A combination of critical thinking and technical skills is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for effectively interacting with GenAI. Our education system, particularly secondary and higher education institutions, must play a key role in equipping students with these essential skills.

In partnership with Stats Perform, a global leader in AI solutions for the sports industry and a portfolio company of my global investment firm, Vista Equity Partners, SFI launched an "AI in Basketball" course at Morehouse College last year. This course provided hands-on instruction in AI-use cases, which helped prepare those students to be leaders in this field. It also offered students internship opportunities to use what they learned in a real-world setting, allowing them to build experience and competitive resumes for AI careers. Soon, we will be expanding these courses to other HBCUs, creating on-ramps to this growing industry. 

Another notable example of this is the work being done at internXL, which offers opportunities like free training and certifications in artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning, including access to over 500 AI training courses. The internXL initiative also connects highly-qualified HBCU students with AI experts and employers for internships, enabling them to gain practical experience in the field. And internships are critical – studies show that an internship at a hiring organization, or in the same field, are among the highest differentiators used in choosing between qualified candidates. This work is bridging access gaps and ensuring that underrepresented talent thrives in the rapidly growing and in-demand field of AI.

Finally, we must also ensure widespread access to compute, or processing power, to run these new tools and their applications. If we use the example of smartphones, compute was made possible thanks to telecommunication organizations updating their infrastructure to handle 4G, 5G and LTE – all of which have been underinvested in across Black communities. If we want to fully harness the potential impact of AI on our economy, all communities need to have access to these tools and the infrastructure that underpins the technology. This includes computing power, requisite energy sources, and large language models and other machine learning and reasoning tools.

Economic toll

We know that the racial wealth gap will cost the U.S. economy $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion between 2019 and 2028. Imagine what it would mean for the economy if we took steps to prevent AI from becoming a new economic wedge, and it, instead, became a prolific source of generational wealth. What if we were able to ensure access to these tools for communities around the globe? So long as we take appropriate steps to prevent these tools from mimicking and reinforcing racial biases, the innovation and economic growth this would spur has the potential to close many gaps, generating prosperity for all.

With AI's current trajectory, there will be three distinct waves of opportunity through which value will be captured. We are already seeing the first wave of value creation benefiting hardware vendors. The second wave will go to super scalers like Microsoft, Google, Oracle and other large companies that have the ability to broadly offer connectivity to compute. The third wave will benefit enterprise software vendors who provide AI and GenAI solution sets on top of their existing products. These are three distinct verticals where we must focus our equity efforts to impact the long-term growth of AI and GenAI.

The good news is that, unlike the digital revolution, we have the luxury of foresight. As AI evolves and established companies and new start-ups scale products, develop features and capture value at each stage, we must commit ourselves to ensuring that everyone has access to the incredible benefits of AI. If we fall short, we will not be equipped, nor able, to fully harness and unlock its potential. As we stand at these crossroads, we must think expansively and act decisively to ensure we build the infrastructure to support AI and GenAI enablement.

Robert F. Smith is the founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. He serves as chairman of Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) and Carnegie Hall, founding director and president of the Fund II Foundation and co-lead of Southern Communities Initiative (SCI). In 2019, Smith eliminated the student debt of approximately 400 Morehouse College graduates and was named one of TIME 100's Most Influential People in 2020.