Chris Wright, co-founder and partner of Sullivan Wright Technologies, joined Kyle Kellams of KUAF, an NPR affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, to discuss the rapid pace of AI adoption. Their conversation explored how businesses, especially small- and mid-sized organizations, must navigate the use of new tools while managing risk. A quick summary of their conversation is available below:
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly popular, small companies are feeling pressure to adopt it quickly or risk falling behind their peers. Chris cautions that much of this urgency is from hype rather than businesses’ practical needs. While generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are the most common entry point, Chris says that overall AI adoption has recently declined among companies with more than a handful of employees.
Chris warns that moving too fast can introduce serious risks. Many businesses lack clear policies, employee training and technical safeguards around AI use, leading to what he calls “shadow AI,” where employees use unauthorized tools that can expose sensitive data. In regulated industries such as healthcare, this can even result in reportable data breaches. He also points out that businesses often skip basic vendor due diligence when it comes to AI, failing to evaluate how these tools handle and protect data.
Instead of adopting AI for its own sake, Chris advises businesses to start by identifying a specific problem AI could solve. From there, companies should assess security gaps, establish guardrails and vet vendors carefully to manage risk. By starting small, measuring results, and scaling gradually, businesses can integrate AI tools and resources to improve efficiency without compromising security.
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