BOOK REVIEW: Human and machine interaction in the age of AI

Many companies are already using or aiming to use artificial intelligence AI. Authors Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson of Accenture as systems that extend human capability by sensing, comprehending, acting, and learning define AI.

There is an extensive delusion that AI systems will gradually replace humans in one industry after another. However, the authors research indicates that although AI can be used to automate certain functions, the technology s greater power is in complementing and augmenting human capabilities.

Rather than replace the need for humans, AI will perform the tedious grunt work, collecting data and doing the initial analysis, and so freeing human being to do work only they can.

A brief summary of the evolution of businesses is necessary to position the authors insights.

The first wave of business revolution involved standardized processes. Henry Ford s extraordinary contribution was to deconstruct the manufacture of automobiles so that they could be made on an assembly lines powered by men. With each step made quantifiable, the assembly line could be elevated and standardized, with huge efficiency gains.

The second wave was the automation of processes that began in the 1970s and reached its peak in the 1990s.

This business process re engineering was propelled by the ubiquity of computers, large databases and the automation of numerous back office tasks. Machines replaced many people, and at the time, Walmart was the gold standard.

The third wave rests on the previous two waves, but is a completely new way of doing business. This combination will adapt to the behaviors, preferences and needs of workers at a given moment. It will be powered by real time data rather than by a pre organized sequence of steps.

When this third wave is optimized, it will allow organizations who take full advantage of AI. They will be able to produce individualized products and services, which are satisfying beyond the capabilities of the mass production of the past and deliver more profit.

The difference can be compared to travelling to a destination you are unfamiliar with. In the past, you used a map book, and then you used the early version of the GPS, which was very similar to a map under glass.

The third wave is like Waze. It is a combination of AI algorithms and real time data to create a living, dynamic, optimized map to get you to your destination on the quickest route possible at that exact time.

Waze does not replace the driver; rather, it intensifies our navigation skills and cooperates with us to achieve productivity gains in navigation that have previously not been possible.

Source: HOB

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