Plus: France to pour over $1 billion into quantum tech race. And Meta joins other platforms in settling lawsuit over social-media harms on youth. Julie Chang hosts.
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[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01] Many companies are struggling to scale their AI deployments or even move them past the pilot stage. Often the problem isn't technology, but organizational misalignment around goals, processes and incentives. At the break, join Caroline Roach, senior partner IBM Consulting, to learn why.
[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_02] Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Friday, May 22nd. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. World trade flows rose in the first three months of the year thanks to AI investment. According to figures released today by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, also known as the CPB, the volume of goods moving across national borders was 3.5% higher in the first quarter than in the previous one.
[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_02] However, trading goods may slow in this and coming quarters as the conflict in the Middle East has closed a key transit route, while higher energy prices will likely weaken demand for other products. Just as in 2025, a surge in U.S. demand for goods related to data centers and other investments in AI drove growth at the start of 2026. On the flip side to that export boom, there was a 6.3% rise in U.S. imports.
[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_02] France plans to invest more than $1 billion in domestic quantum computing companies and capabilities in an effort to keep up with the U.S. and China in what the country sees as a race for tech sovereignty. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that the money would partly be injected through an existing military procurement program that buys from five French quantum computing companies. The announcement comes after the U.S. said yesterday that it was awarding $2 billion in grants to quantum computing companies.
[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_02] And Meta Platforms settled a lawsuit with a Kentucky school district over accusations that social media companies intentionally designed their platforms to addict young people, avoiding a June jury trial. Yesterday's settlement resolves the first of over 1,200 lawsuits by school districts alleging mental health harms from social media platforms including Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube. The cases are consolidated in federal court in Oakland, California, but will be tried individually.
[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_02] Meta was the last of the tech companies to reach a settlement with the district. According to court filings, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube all settled the case last week. News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content licensing partnership with Meta. That's your TNB Tech Minute. Join us again this afternoon for more.
[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01] Scaling AI successfully requires more than the right technology. Here again is Caroline Roach, senior partner, IBM Consulting.
[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00] The biggest thing that we were talking about a year ago is what model to use. And the biggest thing that I'm talking about with my clients now is how do I drive change within my organization.
[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01] Companies able to identify, correct, and then avoid misalignment will be best positioned to deliver meaningful business value from AI.
[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00] The organizations that are the most successful set very clear targets and have several priorities that are very clear across the enterprise. The technology is really good, but if you're not changing your organizational alignment, not incentivizing your people correctly, not looking at workflows, you're not going to see real value with it.
[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01] Visit IBM.com slash think slash leadership to learn how building organizational alignment can help deliver AI deployments that scale and drive growth.
[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_02] This content was created by custom content from WSJ, a unit of the Wall Street Journal Advertising Department.