TheWall Street Journal BoD Council: Sonita Lontoh shared perspectives on AI and purpose with WSJ’s Poppy Harlow.

Sonita Lontoh, Sunrun, Inc., TrueBlue, Inc., Alpha AI, Sway Ventures

Sonita sits at the intersection of AI governance, board leadership and Fortune 100 technology experience. She serves on the boards of Sunrun and TrueBlue, where she advises on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and innovation for long-term value creation. She is also a partner at Alpha, an AI governance firm, and an advisor to the Responsible AI Institute. Prior, she had almost three decades of senior leadership experience across HP, Siemens, PG&E, and venture-backed Silicon Valley technology companies. She's a champion of technology for humanity and has been recognized by the White House, the US State Department, and the Financial Times.

POPPY: In 2020, you told Authority Magazine: "The power of technology, innovation, ingenuity and entrepreneurship can create ‘magic’ that can really make a big impact in people’s lives and literally change the world." How do you see that playing out in this AI era?

SONITA: "I believe that even more strongly today than I did in 2020. I find it useful to frame this through historical analogy. AI is a general-purpose technology, in the same family as electricity in the late 19th century or the internet in the late 1990s—with so many applications that completely transformed the way we work and live. But there are two lessons from those earlier waves I would urge every leader to internalize. First, the lasting winners were not the people who simply replaced gas lamps with electric bulbs or companies who digitized their existing workflows; they were the people and the companies who reorganized themselves around the new technology and reimagined entirely new business models—Amazon, Google, eBay. The same pattern will play out here. Second, AI moves on a much faster clock: what took electricity decades and the internet years can happen with AI in a matter of months. So my advice to leaders is two-fold—be bold in your AI ambition and willing to reimagine the work, but pair that ambition with intentionality and responsibility, because the pace of this disruption leaves much less margin for error than past waves did."

POPPY: You’ve spent your career at the intersection of technology, energy, manufacturing, and digital transformation. Where do you believe boards are still underestimating AI’s impact most dramatically?
SONITA: "A lot of leaders are still treating AI as a fragmented technology initiative—the domain of the technology department—instead of a strategic imperative integrated into the company’s overall strategy for long-term value creation. A recent MIT study found 95% of AI pilots failed, largely because they weren’t integrated into business strategy or workflow. The real question for any board is whether you are using AI to defend, extend, or upend your business—and whether your AI initiatives are contributing to real business outcomes. Second, boards underestimate AI risks at the system boundary. Nearly every company today relies on vendors embedding AI—the HR system, sales platform, or security stack you’ve used for years has likely been upgraded with AI you never approved or audited. Third-party AI must be embedded in enterprise risk management, or it becomes the silent governance gap. And third, many boards underestimate the people and culture transformation, the workflow reengineering and change management that will be necessary. AI is not an add-on, it’s an operating model transformation; those who succeed rethink their workflows, roles, and people."

POPPY: You sit on the boards of both Sunrun and TrueBlue—companies focused on energy transformation and the future of work. How do you think AI will change the relationship between human labor and technological automation?

SONITA: "At Sunrun, we are part of an industry that needs skilled human workers—someone has to install the panels and batteries and guide a customer through what is, for many families, a long-term decision. AI doesn’t replace that work; it makes it possible at the scale the energy transition demands. At TrueBlue, much of our workforce is blue-collar and skilled labor—electricians, HVAC technicians, manufacturing trades—and those roles are more insulated from immediate AI disruption than the white-collar knowledge jobs dominating the headlines. Skilled trades are experiencing a real renaissance: the AI data center buildout needs electricians and HVAC engineers, the energy transition needs installers, and American reindustrialization needs manufacturing workers. So the binary "AI replaces human labor" framing is wrong. Automation once hit blue-collar workers hardest; today, AI is disrupting white-collar work as well, while many skilled trades are becoming more valuable. Among knowledge workers, Erik Brynjolfsson’s Stanford research shows AI tends to lift the floor faster than it raises the ceiling—the least-experienced workers saw productivity gains of up to 35%. Some roles will be replaced, some augmented, and entirely new ones will be created. It’s important for leaders to be proactive in understanding how AI will change their workforce and whether they have the right human capital strategies, including the upskilling and reskilling programs to ensure their workforce is AI ready."

POPPY: How do you see the most effective boards of the future operating? What needs to change?

SONITA: "Three things. First, AI literacy—just as every director maintains financial literacy, every director now needs working AI literacy. That doesn’t mean board members need to be AI experts, but they need to understand the relevance of AI risks and opportunities for their business. Build that literacy by mixing governance education with technology exposure, and hands-on experience using AI. Second, structure and composition. There is a tendency to put anything risk-related under the Audit Committee. Forward-thinking boards are proactively assessing whether their composition, structure, and the allocation of risk oversight responsibilities among their standing committees are still fit for purpose to provide effective oversight. Some may choose to establish standing Innovation and Technology committees to oversee AI, cybersecurity, and innovation holistically. And third, underneath all of these, the highest-performing boards engage management in AI conversations through three dimensions: value creation, organizational readiness, and risk and ethical alignment."

POPPY: You have said: "Don’t just focus on yourself and your passion, but instead, combine your passion with your purpose." How do you think about your sense of purpose now in the board roles you serve?

SONITA: "Purpose has always been important to me, and in my board roles it reveals itself in several ways. First, mission and values alignment. It has always been important for me to join boards whose mission resonates with mine. At Sunrun, contributing to energy affordability, independence, and resilience matters deeply to me. At TrueBlue, helping connect people to work resonates just as much. Second, contributing to a healthy board culture. A healthy culture promotes trust, candor, courage, and continuous learning. The best boards strive for constructive consensus after open and robust debate, in service of our fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. And third, advancing my passion in technology for humanity. I actively encourage leaders to embrace AI as a long-term strategic imperative—leading not only with ambition and boldness, but also with intentionality and responsibility. If we can foster that balanced mindset, we will help our organizations not just succeed but thrive in this new era of AI and innovation."

This interview was originally published by the WSJ Board of Directors Council’s The Brief Newsletter on May 15, 2026.