The global race to deploy artificial intelligence is accelerating — but Suvianna Grecu, founder of the AI for Change Foundation, warns that prioritizing speed over safeguards risks triggering a “trust crisis” that could undermine public confidence for years to come.
Speaking ahead of her role as chairperson on day two of the AI & Big Data Expo Europe, Grecu said the greatest danger isn’t AI itself, but the absence of robust governance guiding its rollout.
“Without clear rules, we are on a path to automating harm at scale,” she cautioned.
From lofty principles to daily practice
AI is already making life-altering decisions in hiring, lending, healthcare, and criminal justice — often without thorough testing for bias or long-term societal impact. Grecu noted that, for many organizations, AI ethics still exists as “a document of principles” rather than an embedded operational standard.
To close this gap, she advocates moving from abstract ideals to practical implementation. Her foundation promotes tools such as design checklists, mandatory pre-deployment risk assessments, and cross-functional review boards uniting legal, technical, and policy experts. These measures, she says, ensure clear accountability and repeatable processes, treating ethics as a core business function rather than an afterthought.
Collaboration as the cornerstone
Grecu emphasizes that neither government nor industry can handle AI governance alone. Governments must establish legal boundaries and minimum protections, especially for fundamental rights, while industry brings agility and technical expertise to innovate beyond compliance.
“Leaving governance solely to regulators risks stifling innovation, while leaving it solely to corporations invites abuse,” she said. “Collaboration is the only sustainable route forward.”
Embedding values into AI design
Looking further ahead, Grecu is concerned about the rise of emotionally manipulative AI systems and their impact on human autonomy. She rejects the notion that technology is neutral, arguing that AI reflects the data it is trained on, the objectives it is given, and the incentives it is designed to pursue.
“Without deliberate intervention, AI will optimize for efficiency, scale, and profit — not justice, dignity, or democracy,” she warned. “We must decide what values we want our technology to promote, and build them in intentionally.”
For Europe, she sees a chance to lead by embedding values such as human rights, transparency, sustainability, inclusion, and fairness into every layer of AI development — from policy to design to deployment.
Shaping the future before it shapes us
Grecu’s mission is not to slow AI progress but to ensure it serves humanity rather than just markets. Through public workshops and her foundation’s initiatives, she is working to guide AI’s evolution toward a value-driven future — one where trust is earned through transparency, accountability, and shared responsibility.
As she puts it, the choice is clear: “We have to shape AI before it shapes us.”
