Until recently, AI stood for Artificial Intelligence. However, a new AI is emerging—one that is even more exciting and will undoubtedly shape the future: Augmented Intelligence. The term Artificial Intelligence has been overused, often with excessive imagination, yet there remain many purposeful opportunities for its application.
Augmented Intelligence focuses on using technology to enhance human capabilities—one of the most refined ways to describe Artificial Intelligence. As organizations embrace digital transformation, they must strategically leverage available assets and revamp existing processes. By combining staff expertise, knowledge, and data with AI’s powerful automation and rapid pattern recognition, businesses can unlock greater efficiency and innovation.
The origins of modern Artificial Intelligence can be traced back to classical philosophers' attempts to describe human thinking as a symbolic system in the late 1950s. It then took fifty years to bridge the gap between theoretical definitions and the creation of an actual “intelligent” machine. Over the last decade, Artificial Intelligence has led to groundbreaking applications in everyday life, industrial processes, and business transformation. However, it has also become both a buzzword and an ambiguous concept—widely recognized yet often confused with its subfields, such as Machine Learning and Deep Learning.
We are now in a new era, characterized by algorithms, data, automation, and robotics. Despite AI's rapid advancements, there remains widespread misunderstanding about its current capabilities. Artificial Intelligence is often met with concerns, fears, and even rejection. Will humans be replaced? No—because AI alone is not sufficient, or at least not yet mature enough. Moreover, individuals have the ability to develop new skills and adapt to evolving realities.
For example, in an environment driven by automation—where systems and bots manage complex, disparate, and rapidly evolving work elements—the role of a project manager must undergo a significant transformation. As projects scale into larger programs or enterprise-wide portfolios, there remains a need for subjective decision-making that may occasionally contradict algorithmic recommendations. These high-level decisions require a comprehensive understanding of their implications, effects, and the necessary mitigations to optimize organizational performance.
Think of this new role as a coach, standing on the sidelines and making tactical adjustments to an automated team operating on the execution field. Ultimately, it is the human who will augment the machine.
Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool when mastered, and every organization must learn how to leverage it efficiently. However, the ability to embrace, adapt to, and benefit from AI is not equally distributed—it often depends on factors such as a company's digital maturity. While technology is driving innovation faster than anticipated, AI has yet to be implemented everywhere. This is partly due to lingering doubts about its potential economic value and the challenges associated with transformation, which often bring pain points and fears.
There is a critical need to cultivate a new internal culture focused on enhanced leadership, data-driven decision-making, and augmented management. Co-workers and decision-makers must adopt new practices while unlearning outdated and inefficient models. As a result, the current "Artificial Intelligence" craze is evolving into a more purposeful "Augmented Intelligence" paradigm—a business context in which technology is designed to:
Augmented Intelligence has already begun reshaping organizations, partially or entirely transforming industry segments. Technology-augmented decision-makers effortlessly utilize optimized data and expertise to detect weak signals within their teams or processes. They leverage tailor-made analytics, benchmark competitors, and make predictions at various scales. They track past experiences to onboard new collaborators or implement new methodologies effectively. They minimize managerial bias by relying on objective insights, clear visual tools, and comprehensive reports. In short, they reduce execution risks through a balanced approach to Augmented Intelligence—knowing when to slow down and when to speed up.
Organizations are undergoing a profound revolution, with intelligent technologies serving as both a challenge and a solution. Companies must harness these technologies for value creation while maintaining control and responsibility. Work is experiencing a deep cultural shift—organizations must prepare by leveraging available assets, including data, tools, experiences, expertise, and skills, to create a level playing field, drive innovation, and execute business initiatives more efficiently.
The Future of Work will revolve around capitalizing on knowledge, mobilizing talent, and understanding the power of data. To succeed, companies must cultivate a new business culture and establish a seamless alliance between humans and intelligent machines. Supporting businesses in their digital transformation journey and enabling organizations to leverage Augmented Intelligence for more effective project execution is at the core of Steerio’s mission.
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