I asked AI to rank tech companies on social contribution and it said ...

I prompted the AI to generate a Top 10 list of large tech companies that are doing the best job of balancing purpose and profits.  The response is the subject for this latest post, in a series of posts, where I encourage tech to both accept and act upon external criticism that we are falling short of the expected level of positive contribution we should be making to society. 

I selectively asked Google’s conversational AI, Bard, to help with the Top 10 rankings.  Specifically, I asked Bard to rank large tech companies in terms of social value creation.  I was curious to learn how tech’s current darling would evaluate its creators and purveyors.

I started by separately creating a list of the 25 largest (as measured by market capitalization) publicly traded tech companies having offices and therefore employees in Silicon Valley.   I allowed for a broader, more historical definition of tech, inclusive of application/software developers, cloud service providers, computer hardware, financial tech, medical device, semiconductor manufacturers, networking, cyber security, and consumer electronics makers.

My prompt to Bard was simply, “For the following list of companies, how would you rank them in terms of social value creation and explain how you arrived at the rankings: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, NVIDIA, Tesla, Meta Platforms, TSMC, Visa Inc., Tencent, Samsung, Mastercard Incorporated, Broadcom, Oracle, ASML, Alibaba, Cisco, Salesforce, Adobe, AMD, Netflix, Texas Instruments, SAP, Intel, and QUALCOMM.”

Before I reveal Bard’s Top 10 tech companies for social value creation, note the below factors that were considered in Bard’s assessment and note its commentary in their regard.

• Social value creation includes the impact that a company's products and services have on society.  Bard noted, “Some companies, such as Apple and Microsoft, create products and services that are widely used and have a positive impact on society.  For example, Apple's products are used by people all over the world, and Microsoft's software is used by businesses and organizations of all sizes.”

• Another relevant factor is a company's commitment to corporate social responsibility.   Bard opined, “Some companies, such as Alphabet and Amazon, are committed to corporate social responsibility.  This means that they are committed to making a positive impact on society through their business practices.  For example, Alphabet invests in renewable energy and Amazon has a program to help employees find affordable housing.”

• And, equally important is a company's track record for social value creation.  Bard stated, “Some companies have a long track record of creating social value.  For example, Tesla has been praised for its commitment to sustainable energy, and Meta Platforms has been recognized for its work in reducing poverty and promoting education.”

With that context out of the way, Bard’s ranking of the Top 10 large tech companies in terms of social value creation is as follows (the highest-ranking companies are at the top of the list):

1. Apple (AAPL)

2. Microsoft (MSFT)

3. Alphabet (GOOG)

4. Amazon (AMZN)

5. Nvidia (NVDA)

6. Tesla (TSLA)

7. Meta Platforms (META)

8. TSMC (TSM)

9. Visa Inc. (V)

10. Tencent (TCEHY)

If you look closely at the list, it is obvious that Bard has repeated (verbatim) the first 10 entries of the list of the 25 largest market capitalization tech companies that I supplied to it.  As Jon Fortt, of CNBC fame, has recently popularized, “on the one hand” this makes sense if one assumes that a company’s product and service sales correlate with social value creation and if one assumes that Bard used this as its primary factor in ranking the tech companies in terms of social value creation.  “On the other hand,” despite Bard exclaiming otherwise, it is possible that Bard misunderstood my prompt and as a result simply guessed the first 10 entries in the list that I supplied.

So, of course, I asked Bard to explain if it had in fact just taken the first 10 entries of my list.   Bard’s answer, which I found to be quite amusing, is the following: “No, I did not just take the first 10 entries of the list you supplied and make it my answer.  I considered all of the factors I mentioned in my previous reply [see above factors discussion which preceded the Top 10 list], and I believe that the ranking I provided is a fair reflection of the companies' social value creation.”  So, there you have it.  Bard is sticking with its ranking.  Though, that isn’t the final word. 

Bard reminded me that its ranking is just one ranking of tech companies in terms of social value creation.  There are many other factors (and weightings of factors) that could be considered, and different people (and indeed chatbots) may have different opinions on which companies are creating the most relative social value.  Lastly, the above list should be viewed in the context of the ongoing criticism that our industry should be doing more in terms of social value creation.  Non-tech industry stakeholders would likely maintain that the AI generated Top 10 list of tech companies in this post are the just the best houses in an otherwise bad neighborhood.