The AI revolution is here but it’s still ‘pretty nascent’ and ‘a little clumsy’, private equity firm managing partner says

That’s according to Isabelle Freidheim, the founder and managing partner of venture capital and private equity firm Athena Capital, who spoke on a panel at the Fortune Global Forum conference in New York on Monday.

“AI is still pretty nascent,” Freidheim told Fortune’s Alex Wood Morton on stage. “Of course there’s a large set of opportunities going forward, but it’s still a little clumsy now.”

Freidheim still sees the flaws in AI, such as the text that it produces. “Up to a certain extent, when we have applicants for a job sending us a writing sample, we can tell pretty quickly when it’s AI.” Freidheim said. “AI has a certain style to it.”

Asked whether AI is at the point of genuine human replacement, even in more rote jobs or simple capacities, Freidheim said no, definitively. “We’re not there yet, but when we are there, we’re not replacing jobs, just changing the jobs.”

But what the panelists agreed on is the potential AI can bring to the workforce once the kinks are worked out.

AI is an enormous opportunity, Suzanne Dann, CEO of the Americas division for software and consulting firm Wipro, said on the panel. “It’s something we haven’t seen before; we all got excited about the cloud, and now the cloud is an onramp to AI.”

Granted, the tech requires regulation, she added.

But amid rapid digital innovation, trust is doubly crucial, Suzan Kereere, PayPal’s president of global markets, added. “If you don’t have trust, it’s hard for consumers to use you over and over again—and we want consumers to grow on our platform.”

The COVID pandemic forced everyone to adopt new technology at a rapid clip, but the work is far from over, Wipro’s Dann said, adding that there remains “tremendous” opportunity to invest in more advanced tools—including AI.

Freidheim, whose company invests primarily in the U.S., has recently begun beefing up its European business; it’s soon opening an office in Paris. 

“It’s slow,” overseas, Freidheim noted. “Technology innovation isn’t as ingrained in the culture [in Europe] as it is here.”

Nonetheless, numerous regions are deploying “heavy capital” into tech companies, mainly from government initiatives in the form of tax credits, loans, or equity investments aimed at supporting local tech ecosystems.

“This is in the context of overall deglobalization, and the geopolitical scene we’re in now.” Freidheim said. “We are seeing the race to create tech leaders in chips manufacturing and EV, and some regions are stronger than others.”

Tech advancement, however, complicated for an industry like retail, said Scott Baxter, CEO of Kontoor Brands, owner of Wrangler and Lee brand clothing. What slows the company down is incorporating its supply chain partners.

“We don’t do a lot of global initiatives because we can never support the supply chain; by the time we do, the product would have moved onto something else,” he said.

Wipro has 220,000 employees, Dann added, each of whom has baseline AI know-how. “We knew we needed to be AI-driven,” she said. “There is a level of education [we need as] we’re moving from legacy tech. It’s not about implementing a new widget or integration; it’s about rethinking and reimagining business processes.”

As Wipro looks towards hiring, Dann said, the business needs people with a keen sense of how AI can “refuel” their current operations. “How do we rethink the supply chain, or HR?” she said. “Those are the kinds of skills we need to build, and that’s our challenge moving forward.”

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