Robots Need Us More Than We Need Them

In our AI future, people—not the algorithms they deploy—will be the reason most companies succeed.

by

H. James Wilson

and

Paul R. Daugherty

by

H. James Wilson

and

Paul R. Daugherty

From the Magazine (March–April 2022) · Long read

Wanda Tuerlinckx

Summary.

Research shows that companies that are investing heavily in digital technologies to harness the power of human-machine collaboration are dramatically improving their bottom lines. But it takes people to conceive of and manage the innovations, and the authors are convinced that success in the future depends on a human-centered approach to artificial intelligence (AI).

In this article they present their IDEAS framework, which calls for attention to five elements of the emerging technology landscape: intelligence, data, expertise, architecture, and strategy. The authors discuss each of these in turn, examining how companies such as McDonald’s, Etsy, and the online grocer Ocado have implemented human-driven AI processes and applications to become leading players in their industries.

If you’re eager to transform your own business, the IDEAS framework can help you develop a road map for AI-enabled innovation.

Idea in Brief

The Situation

Innovative companies have scaled their investments in key digital technologies such as cloud computing and AI, and they’re generating revenue at twice the speed of laggards.

The Explanation

An increasingly human-focused approach to AI is helping the most-forward-thinking firms create seamless human-machine integration and agile adaptability.

The Advice

Companies that want to get on the bandwagon can use the IDEAS framework: They should focus on five elements of the technology landscape—intelligence, data, expertise, architecture, and strategy—and look for ways to weave them together into powerful engines of innovation.

Imagine trying to find a particular image within the National Football League’s historical archive of hundreds of thousands of videos. A single season produces more than 16,320 minutes (some 272 hours) of game footage. If you include coverage of every pregame, halftime, and postgame show, every practice, and every media interview, you have a seemingly endless amount of footage. And that’s just for one season.

A version of this article appeared in the March–April 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review.

H. James Wilson is the global managing director of thought leadership & technology research at Accenture. He coauthored multiple books including Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) and Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI (Harvard Business Review Press, 2018).
hjameswilson
Paul Daugherty is Accenture’s group chief executive – technology and CTO. He is a coauthor of Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) and Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI (Harvard Business Review Press, 2018).
pauldaugh

Robots Need Us More Than We Need Them

Idea in Brief

The Situation

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The Advice

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