Moody's Goes All-In on AI

You've created some things. Perhaps a few that are noteworthy. You're rightfully proud of those things.

I've also created a few things: compiled election results cited by hundreds of academics, think tanks, and news outlets, and created technology that help thousands do their work.

Even with these noteworthy things, if you're like me you don't think of yourself as a tech "innovator". Innovators are Silicon Valley founders scaling startups to great heights while somehow finding time to tweet about their journey. These entrepreneurs have what you and I have: big ideas. But they also have an abundance of things you and I don't have: seemingly endless access to advisors, mentors, and collaborators who help bring their ideas to life. That's what separates the innovators from the rest of us, right?

Working with AI agents over the past few weeks has changed my perspective. I'm now embracing the innovator label. Agentic AI is an exciting technology that compelled us to refresh our emdata.ai business model and aggressively adopt it help our clients meet their goals.

This transformation occurred because AI opened new possibilities for us and makes ideation less risky and honestly, more fun. What makes it truly exciting is having an AI collaborator that helps identify, act on, and scale promising ideas while helping us figure out which ones probably belong in the trash.

Toby E. Stuart illustrates a similar transformation with a story about Moody's CEO Rob Fauber, who in early 2023 made the bold decision to aggressively adopt generative AI, viewing inaction as a greater risk than embracing the new technology. His implementation followed three key principles: 1) empower all employees as innovators, 2) encourage a "yes, and..." mindset, and 3) prioritize initiatives with measurable business impact. Through strategic partnerships, rapid integration of AI tools, and comprehensive training programs, Moody's successfully transformed into a gen-AI-first company, achieving significant operational and financial benefits.

Our early results affirm what Fauber recognized at Moody's: with AI as our "collaborator", we're now all innovators. Let's create even more things.