Weekends are time when things slow down a little. Your weekend shouldn’t be two more regular work days. That’s a sure road to burnout. Take time to refresh yourself. Take time for something different. Take time for some of that reading you can’t find time for during the week.

Here are choice articles on hot leadership topics culled from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. This week there are articles about artificial intelligence and business.

From Irving Wladawsky-Berger: Getting on the AI Learning Curve: A Pragmatic, Incremental Approach

“After decades of promise and hype, AI is now seemingly everywhere. Over the past several years, the necessary ingredients have come together to propel AI beyond the research labs into the marketplace: powerful, inexpensive computer technologies; huge amounts of data; and advanced algorithms including machine learning.”

From Anand Rao and Euan Cameron: The Future of Artificial Intelligence Depends on Trust

“Purchasing a home or car is an exciting moment in a person’s life. Consumers may be comfortable with and even appreciate data-driven recommendations in the search process, for example, from websites that suggest homes based on properties they’ve previously viewed. But what if the decision to grant a mortgage or auto loan is made by a machine-learning algorithm? And what if the logic behind that algorithm’s decision, especially if it rejects the application, is unclear? It’s hard enough being denied a loan after going through the traditional process; being turned down by an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered system that can’t be explained is that much worse. Consumers are left with no way to know how to improve their chance of success in the future”

From the London School of Economics: Data silos are the greatest stumbling block to an effective use of firms’ data

“Resolving inconsistency in systems, formats and strategy would help improve return on investment in data, writes Gaurav Dhillon”

From McKinsey & Company: An executive’s guide to AI

“Staying ahead in the accelerating artificial-intelligence race requires executives to make nimble, informed decisions about how and where to employ AI in their business. One way to prepare to act quickly: know the AI essentials presented in this guide.”

From Springwise and Deloitte: Artifical Intelligence Innovation Report (PDF)

“At Springwise, we have found that, while there are a huge number of businesses that could benefit from deep learning, in general, for deep learning to offer a practical business solution, a company must have a need for finding complex relationships in large amounts of data, and a recurring need for predicting things that either cut costs or create value. Some of the most relevant deep learning-powered business transformations we have found involve improved targeting of sales and marketing, better informed decision-making, increased productivity and automation of retail.”

From the Sloan Management Review: Artificial Intelligence in Business Gets Real

“Companies are looking to artificial intelligence to create business value, and as our 2018 Global Executive Study and Research Report on AI shows, Pioneer organizations are pulling ahead of their counterparts. By deepening their commitment to AI and focusing on revenue-generating applications over cost savings, these early implementers are positioning themselves to reap the benefits of AI at scale.”

Book Suggestions

Applied Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook For Business Leaders by Mariya Yao and Adelyn Zhou

Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Future by Lasse Rouhiainen

Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb

Every week I share some recommendations of business books that I think are worth a look. Follow this link to the most recent list.

Every Monday, I do a blog post about business reading and business books. Follow this link to the most recent post.