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Risk management|Don’t Let an AI Failure Harm Your Brand
Risk management

Don’t Let an AI Failure Harm Your Brand

Here’s how marketers should prepare for the inevitable. by Julian De Freitas

From the Magazine (July–August 2025)
Winni Wintermeyer

Summary.   

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In October 2023 an automated vehicle (AV) operated by Cruise, a robotaxi subsidiary of General Motors, was involved in a serious accident in San Francisco. A Nissan, driven by a human, struck a pedestrian, who was thrown into the AV’s path. According to an independent engineering consultant’s investigation of the accident, no prudent human driver under those circumstances would have been able to steer the AV to avert the crash. But Cruise’s initial report to regulators omitted the fact that the pedestrian was then dragged underneath the AV for 20 feet. She suffered severe injuries but survived.

Read more on Risk management or related topics Marketing, AI and machine learning, Consumer behavior and Automation
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Read more on Risk management or related topics Marketing, AI and machine learning, Consumer behavior and Automation

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