The reality, of course, is that there is no way to halt A.I.s development. Were just starting to imagine the potential of generative A.I.as well as its risks.

So where should we be focusing our efforts? Collectively, we can drive the development of practical, trusted, and ethical generative A.I. technologies, accelerating innovations to solve societal and business challenges. Harnessed correctly, this technology will be game-changing.

Equally and importantly, we need tools that detect and manage legitimate threats around creation, such as ownership, bias, and misinformation, among others.

Entrepreneurs were made for this moment

While there may be a global race between countries and big tech companies to lead the development and application of generative A.I. technologies, entrepreneurs are uniquely placed to usher in the next phase of this techs applications and solutions.

Ive seen some of this firsthand through the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year programwhich has advised, guided, and recognized entrepreneurs around the world for over 20 yearsand saw 49 entrepreneurs compete for the world title this month. At least 18% of this years finalists are using various forms of A.I.and we expect this percentage to increase in the future.

It almost seems as if generative A.I. has been created for entrepreneurs. The technology itself presents an innately low barrier to entrypretty much anyone with this tech and a phone can become a start-up. For entrepreneurs, a technology that supports rapid prototyping and iteration is of immense value. It can be employed to easily test new business concepts or quickly build proof of concepts. Being an early adopter is a big advantage for entrepreneurs. This contrasts starkly with established companies, a growing list of which is banning employees from using generative A.I. technologies at work while they wrestle with the protection of sensitive customer data or proprietary code and other issues.

Today, much of the conversation on the generative A.I. race is around big tech and the elite A.I. specialists who are ultimately creating the technology. But the more technologically savvy entrepreneurs are already employing it, addressing societal and business issues around accessibility for people with disabilities, financial inclusion, legal assistance, and more. Whats clear to me is that for all their diversity, leading entrepreneurs share a defining quality: Where most people see problems, they see potential solutionsand act swiftly to bring them to market.

Powering innovation through an ecosystem

Entrepreneurs have always been at the forefront of disruption. Lets be clear: Most of the generative A.I. technology has been created by tech startups. Generative A.I. is essentially a unique form of disruption that will revolutionize everything from tasks to industries. This requires rethinking the ecosystem.

Successful entrepreneurs are already connected with broad ecosystemscovering everything from funding sources, tech skills, networking, and talent. As entrepreneurs embrace this technology, theyre also closely reviewing their ecosystemswhich may require bigger big tech partnerships and or vastly different alliancesto successfully scale their solutions.

Significant opportunities await entrepreneurs with enterprises as well. Right now, established companies are feeling like the generative A.I. conversationsand issuesare being pushed onto them. Its important to keep in perspective that the technology isnt even ready yet. But whats clear is organizations need help in moving from the sidelines into experimentation and creation.

Many big companies lack the knowledgebase or agility to create and scale generative A.I. solutions on their own. Entrepreneurs are well placed to helpbringing agility, innovation, and specialized knowledge and enabling enterprises to leverage generative A.I. in a way that aligns with their business objectives.

While ecosystem thinking may not be new, the value that can be realized through the ecosystem will grow exponentially with generative A.I.

Agility and an inclination to disrupt the status quo have always made entrepreneurs natural change agents, but the breakneck pace of generative A.I. will only amplify these strengths, even more so than we saw in past eras. Fortunately, for entrepreneurs, the opportunity to make a difference is not only biggerits more democratized than ever before.

Carmine Di Sibio is EYs global chairman and CEO.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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Until recently, a quick Google search would have directed you to Dolores Wharton, a prominent foundation executive who was married to the late Clifton Wharton Jr., former Rockefeller Foundation chair, CEO of TIAA, and university president.

But that information turned out to be incorrect, according to findings unearthed two years ago by Black Women on Boards (BWOB), a networking and board training organization. The first Black woman on a Fortune 500 board, one member discovered, was actually Patricia Roberts Harris, the late American lawyer, cabinet secretary, and diplomat, who was elected to the board of IBM in 1971. (Wharton had joined the boards of Kellogg and Phillips Petroleum in 1976.)

Now Harriss featbreaking into the apex of corporate power once reserved for white menis not only recognized by the worlds search engine, its also celebrated in OnBoard, a new documentary about Harris and the women who have followed suit, often as the first or only Black woman in the boardroom.

Merline Saintil, cofounder of BWOB and coexecutive producer and coproducer of OnBoard, says the film is part of a wider mission to normalize Black womens corporate success and show fellow Black executives that theres a pathway to the boardroom because someone went first.

Patricia Roberts Harris, that someone, was repeatedly first throughout her career.

When she died in 1985, obituaries outlined the remarkable trajectory of her life. She was born into a working-class family in Illinois; attended Howard University on a scholarship, graduating summa cum laude; and worked her way into D.C.s inner circle. Friends and colleagues described her to the New York Times as a lawyer with a steel-trap mind and a self-assured leader with a certain duality about herat once tough, sharp, and charming.

Harris graduated from the George Washington University Law School, first in her class, in 1960. By the time she got the call from IBM, she had been a corporate lawyer, the dean of Howard University School of Law, an organizer for the Democratic Party, cochair of the National Womens Committee for Civil Rights, and the first Black woman to become an ambassador (to Luxembourg). IBM was not her only board; she later served on those of Scott Paper and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Harris left her IBM directorship in 1977 when she was invited to the U.S. cabinet, serving as secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later as secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, during the Carter administration. 

Before her HUD appointment, she sat for a Senate committee hearing, which produced an exchange that became a part of her legacy. When a lawmaker suggested that Harris, by then among D.C.s elite, may not be of the people, she responded forcefully.

Senator, to say that Im not by, and for, and of the people is to show a misunderstanding of who I am and where I came from, said Harris. If my life has any meaning at all, it is that those who start as outcasts may end up being part of the system.

That clip helps to anchor and fuel OnBoard, which debuted at New York Citys Tribeca Festival this week. In 45 minutes, it deftly threads together Harriss story with that of BWOB, which was launched almost accidentally three years ago by two friends: Saintil, a former Silicon Valley CTO and COO who now sits on the boards of Rocket Lab, GitLab, and three other companies, and Robin Washington, Gilead Sciences former CFO, and a director at Salesforce, Alphabet, and Honeywell.

In 2020, they found themselves talking about the surge in requests for Black board members following George Floyds murder, as major American firms pledged to fix their companys race record and diversify their boards. (Although gender diversity has improved over the past few decades, white womennow holding about one-third of board seatshave benefited most. That summer, Black women held only 3% of all Fortune 500 board seats, and 4% of S&P 500 directorships.)

Eager to improve, boards did what boards do: They looked inward, finding Black directors at other companies who might be recruitable. Saintil and Washington were flooded with requests but declined. They had hit capacity. The way it works, if youre on board, youre getting the calls. If youre not on board, youre not getting the calls, says Saintil. We thought, Hey, we know amazing Black women who just arent getting the calls. Can we do something about that?

Soon after, the pair organized a Zoom call with 18 Black women executives, which organically evolved into a formal venture. Today, BWOB has more than 200 members globally and more than 30 women placed on public company boards.

Shannon Nash, CFO of Wing, a drone delivery company and Alphabet subsidiary, was among the boxed faces at that Zoom gathering. Her idea was to hire Atlanta-based film director Deborah Riley Draper, whose documentaries bring light to Black history, and make a short film about BWOBs mission. The multi-hyphenate executivelawyer, CPA, film producer, and board member at SoFi bank and two other firmsshared her proposal with Saintil and Draper in the fall of 2021, during a short trip that began as a vacation.

At the impromptu offsite, the women searched Google for the first Black woman on a board and were led to Wharton. But just two weeks later, Nash learned from Barry Lawson Williamsthe retired founder of investment and consulting firm Williams Pacific Ventures, who has served on more than 18 public boardsthat Harris was the real trailblazer. He knew because his mother had idolized Harris and followed every move in her career.  

The revelation gave the women further resolve: They needed to correct the neglected history of Black women in corporate governance. Nash would be the documentarys co-executive producer and producer. We often dont include, or center, Black women in the story of big business and corporate boardrooms and capitalism, and the interesting thing about that is Black women have been an important part of the American economy since theres been an American economy, says Draper, the films director.

Courtesy of OnBoard: The Film

Though the documentary doesnt dive into Harriss experiences in corporate boardrooms, it offers a broader history of board diversity, honoring 50 of the women who followed Harris in the 70s, 80s, until today, and interviewing Black women directors at companies like Zillow, Symbotic, and Williams-Sonoma.

Taking this long view helps to put the current climatewith its anti-woke boycottsin perspective. The movement to diversify boards wont be reversed, says Saintil. A just-published board snapshot from Deloitte shows a sharp increase in Black directors, who now hold 12% of Fortune 500 board seats, with Black women seeing the largest increase (a 47% jump) in new placements since 2020. It may not continue at the pace it has been in the last few years, postGeorge Floyd, but the idea that we would turn back and not continue to think of diversity as an advantage and criteria by which we look at things is not possible, says Saintil. Companies are aware that boardroom diversity leads to stronger performance and better decisions, and groups like BWOB are debunking the myth that there arent enough Black executives with the right experience to be directors.

In the past, the barriers that kept Black women out of the CFO and CEO positions played into the absence of Black female directors since boards have traditionally been composed of only executives who have held those roles. Today, says Saintil, more Black executives hold such titles, and boards are tapping directors with varied professional backgrounds. Now you get your technologists, product people, chief marketing people, CHROs, and a wider group of C-suite executives, she notes. But Black women still lack the social capital required to join boards. They need introductions, robust networks, golf games with CEOs (which BWOB has arranged), and ongoing support once they become a board member, says Saintil.

Like Harris, who was not in the self-promotion business according to her contemporaries, Saintil admits that she doesnt love the limelight of her new role. At first, she recoiled at the thought of making a documentarydealing with the hair, the makeup, the press appearancesuntil she considered the impact the film could have. I know we will inspire people to think more broadly, that they could reach this trajectory. We will educate people on what boards do, she says, We will get people fired up and inspired.

It remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international financial, security and stability implications.

The two sides expressed a willingness to keep talking, but there was little indication that either is prepared to bend from its positions on issues ranging from trade, to Taiwan, to human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, to Russias war in Ukraine.

At the meeting with Blinken, Xi pronounced himself pleased with the outcome of Blinkens earlier meetings with two top Chinese diplomats, and said the two countries had agreed to resume a program of understandings that he and President Joe Biden agreed to at a meeting in Bali last year.

The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali, Xi said.

That agenda had been thrown into jeopardy in recent months, notably after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over its airspace in February, and amid escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Combined with disputes over human rights, trade and opiate production, the list of problem areas is daunting.

But Xi suggested the worst could be over.

The two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues, Xi said without elaborating, according to a transcript of the remarks released by the State Department. This is very good.

I hope that through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-U.S. relations, Xi added.

In his remarks to Xi during the 35-minute session at the Great Hall of the People, which was not announced until an hour before it started, Blinken said the United States and China have an obligation and responsibility to manage our relationship.

The United States is committed to doing that, Blinken said. Its in the interest of the United States, in the interests of China, and in the interest of the world.

Blinken described his earlier discussions with senior Chinese officials as candid and constructive.

Despite his presence in China, Blinken and other U.S. officials had played down the prospects for any significant breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planets two largest economies.

Instead, these officials have emphasized the importance of the two countries establishing and maintaining better lines of communication.

Blinken is the highest-level U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years. His visit is expected to usher in a new round of visits by senior U.S. and Chinese officials, possibly including a meeting between Xi and Biden in the coming months.

Blinken met earlier Monday with Chinas top diplomat Wang Yi for about three hours, according to a U.S. official.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement that Blinkens visit coincides with a critical juncture in China-U.S. relations, and it is necessary to make a choice between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict, and blamed the U.S. sides erroneous perception of China, leading to incorrect policies towards China for the current low point in relations.

It said the U.S. had a responsibility to halt the spiraling decline of China-U.S. relations to push it back to a healthy and stable track and that Wang had demanded that the U.S. stop hyping up the China threat theory, lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, abandon suppression of Chinas technological development, and refrain from arbitrary interference in Chinas internal affairs.

The State Department said Blinken underscored the importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the PRC through open channels of communication to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.

In the first round of talks on Sunday, Blinken met for nearly six hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions. However, there was no sign that any of the most fractious issues between them were closer to resolution.

Both the U.S. and China said Qin had accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington but Beijing made clear that the China-U.S. relationship is at the lowest point since its establishment. That sentiment is widely shared by U.S. officials.

Blinkens visit comes after his initial plans to travel to China were postponed in February after the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S.

A snub by the Chinese leader would have been a major setback to the effort to restore and maintain communications at senior levels.

And Biden said over the weekend that he hoped to be able to meet with Xi in the coming months to take up the plethora of differences that divide them.

In his meetings on Sunday, Blinken also pressed the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.

Xi had offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions on Friday, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates that the United States and China can cooperate to benefit our two countries.

Since the cancellation of Blinkens trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while Chinas commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi in Vienna in May.

But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both countries over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, Chinas refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.

And, earlier this month, Chinas defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.