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    RESEARCH  |  3 POINT PERSPECTIVE

    AI risks and infrastructure: Managing the blind spots

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    Contributors: Hiral Patel & Laia Marin
    03 Jun 2024
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    Hiral Patel, Global Head of Thematic Investing Research, and Laia Marin, Vice President, Thematic Investing Research team, consider how opportunities created by artificial intelligence have impacted the latest 2030 Thematic Roadmap, and what will be required to mitigate the associated risks.

    1: AI opportunities continue to emerge   

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an important driving force for 30% of the 150 trends we identify in the latest 2030 Thematic Roadmap.  

    AI has the potential to significantly enhance process optimisation, automation and resource management, which we expect to positively impact trends such as TradeTech, AgriTech and smart cities. 

    This year and in 2025, investors can expect AI to become more prominent, particularly within the Technology & Financials and Healthcare sectors.  

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    2: Emerging AI risks will need to be addressed  

    The scaling and development of AI is creating a spectrum of risks, from socio-economic inequality and workers’ fear of becoming obsolete, to ethical issues and cybersecurity concerns. These risks could impact many of the trends in our Thematic Roadmap, particularly given upcoming catalysts such as the European Union AI Act.  

    Going forward we expect more nuanced discussions to emerge relating to AI liability at the company level, with businesses needing to be proactive in addressing employee concerns, applying AI ethics and monitoring cybersecurity risks. 

    3. AI-optimised infrastructure is key to successful adoption 

    In order to scale, AI-ready digital infrastructure will be key.  A number of trends in our 2030 Thematic Roadmap optimistically reflect progress in the build-out of this infrastructure, such as AI-optimised data centres, scalable storage and next-gen networks.  

    However, in the near term, the lack of purpose-built infrastructure may lead to significant bottlenecks in AI adoption at the sector level. 

    We’re also observing a desire for new AI-infrastructure to be both resilient and sustainable in nature which is creating some operational challenges. This will influence the outlook for trends such as semiconductors and green data centres.  

    As AI technologies develop and the risks and infrastructure requirements become clearer, these are the issues we believe will be the most impactful for investors for the rest of the decade. 

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    About the expert

    Hiral Patel

    Global Head of Thematic Investing Research

    Hiral Patel is a Managing Director and Global Head of Thematic Investing Research at Barclays. The team focuses on identifying investment opportunities (public and private companies) relating to disruptive technology, sustainability and demographic change, and has created a range of investor tools to aid ESG and Thematic investors. Hiral and team ranked #2 in the 2023 European Equity Research II Survey (Thematic Category). Hiral joined Barclays in 2013 and has 15 years of industry experience, previously working at KPMG in Financial Audit. Hiral studied Economics, Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

    Laia Marin

    Vice President, Thematic Investing Research

    Laia Marin, CFA, is a Vice President in the Thematic Investing Research team at Barclays. The team focuses on identifying investment opportunities (public and private companies) relating to disruptive technology, sustainability and demographic change, and has created a range of investor tools to aid ESG and Thematic investors. Laia has a thematic focus on Venture Capital as well as Food Waste, Social Inclusion, Green Data Centers and Cultured Meat. The team ranked #2 in the 2023 European Equity Research II Survey (Thematic Category). Laia joined Barclays in 2020 and has six years of industry experience, previously working at Allianz Global Investors as a graduate focusing on sustainability and ESG. Laia holds a Masters in Finance from ESADE in Barcelona, graduated from Bocconi University in Milan with a degree in International Economics, Management and Finance and is a CFA Charterholder.

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