Why investors need a clearer view of the risks of AI, not just the opportunities, to tackle inequalities

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having a pervasive impact on the global economy, shaping the way businesses operate and the nature of work. For companies and investors alike, the opportunity is substantial: higher productivity, faster innovation and new sources of growth, and technology that can augment the capabilities of workers and enable entrepreneurship – enlarging the economic pie for the benefit of all.

Capturing that opportunity, however, is not only a technological question. It is also a societal one, hinging on how well governments and businesses manage AI's effects on workers, consumers and communities.

With around 40% of global employment exposed to AI-related automation and transformation of tasks and skills demands, getting this right will determine whether AI strengthens economic resilience and public trust in the technology, or undermines them.

For investors, the investment case for AI must therefore look beyond immediate efficiency gains to consider how the transition could intensify or mitigate inequalities in income, job security and access to opportunities.

More than one billion working people globally – about one-third of the workforce – do not earn enough to afford a decent living, so such inequalities are increasingly material economic and financial considerations.

The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2026 identifies inequality as the most interconnected global risk over the coming decade for the second year running, given its potential to destabilize economic, political and environmental systems.

AI’s impact on the workforce will unfold alongside other major shifts: climate change, the transition to a lower-carbon economy, demographic change and geoeconomic fragmentation – each with its own implications for social inclusion, human rights and societal and political stability. Left unmanaged, these pressures can compound into system-level risks that investors cannot simply diversify away.

Yet markets are still not properly pricing in these pressures. We have become highly sophisticated at measuring financial performance and managing conventional risks yet remain far less equipped to account for how the condition of people and societies can shape business outcomes, market stability and long-term value creation.

Compared with climate and nature-related risks, social and inequality-related issues remain less visible in mainstream business and investment decision-making, less comparable and less consistently integrated into governance, strategy and risk management. As a result, decision-makers are often left navigating profound structural change without a clear view of one of the most important factors shaping future performance.

The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) has been established to address this gap. TISFD is developing a market-usable framework to help businesses and financial institutions understand and make better decisions on people-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities.

Currently in draft form and due for finalization at the end of 2027, its aim is to make these issues more visible, coherent and useful for decision-making, while supporting stronger accountability.

AI and the climate transition are acute examples of how business impacts and dependencies on people can give rise to both risks and opportunities for investors. Left unaddressed, these risks can weaken long-term portfolio performance.

Many companies are collecting more people-related data than ever before, but too often that information remains fragmented across multiple standards and disclosures, siloed in organizations or focused on compliance rather than decision-making.

This data does not yet give boards, executives or investors a sufficiently clear view of how people-related issues affect performance, resilience and long-term value – fuelling environmental, social and governance reporting fatigue and overload in the process. TISFD has identified more than 2,000 disclosure requirements globally and over 300 unique metrics, pointing to significant scope for harmonization and convergence.

TISFD is addressing this by building a globally coherent disclosure framework that reduces overlap and improves comparability in reporting standards. The TISFD Framework has been designed to build on existing standards, including those developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The aim is to improve comparability and reduce fragmentation and overlapping reporting requirements for businesses.

TISFD’s Framework also aligns closely with the approaches established by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), recognizing that people, climate and nature are deeply interconnected and increasingly need to be considered together.

Better information alone will not resolve rising inequality, nor will it determine how the AI and other transitions unfold. But markets cannot effectively manage opportunities and risks they cannot clearly see.

Every major economic transition reshapes markets and societies. AI will be no different. The extent to which it becomes a driver of greater and more widely shared prosperity or deeper inequality will depend on the decisions governments, businesses and investors make today.

A clearer view of people-related risks and opportunities is the foundation for getting this right, because thriving businesses, growing markets and successful transitions depend on the resilience and well-being of the people and societies on which they are built.

Peter Bakker and Gabriela Ramos are co-chairs of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures.