IBM, the technology company, believes that artificial intelligence could benefit from being rebranded as “augmented intelligence”, in reflection of the fact it can enhance human decision-making instead of replacing it.
Carole Irgang, executive partner/marketing transformation at IBM iX – a provider of creative solutions and business strategy expertise – discussed this topic at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2019 Masters of Marketing Conference.
“I’d like to rebrand ‘artificial intelligence’ as ‘augmented intelligence,’” she said. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: IBM seeks to “rebrand” artificial intelligence to ease fears and inspire enterprise adoption.)
The need for a shift in perspective reflects widespread anxiety about the loss of jobs due to artificial intelligence – and even existential worries about threats to humanity itself.
With the discipline refocused, it should become clear that “humans are not going away. And though there may be places for robots, they’re not taking over,” Irgang said.
Indeed, she asserted, a properly conceived AI program can make people more productive as they can use machines to take on some of the time-consuming nuts-and-bolts work that has long weighed down enterprise thinking.
“The real value of AI is to let humans do what humans do best. And that’s to create – to come up with the big idea; to come up with a creative thought; to put your energy toward new revenue streams and new opportunities for your business and growth – as opposed to these manual processes that are probably not creating value.”
“As humans, we need put our energy in the high-value places, as opposed to the automated places that the machine can do for us,” Irgang said.
Because they’ve been able to collect and curate data, Irgang said, “Smart brands know everything about [consumers]. They’re sending us messages all the time.
“They know all of our behavior. They’re predicting things for us. And they’re learning from us, because we’re allowing them to do that.”
If automated systems can handle the behind-the-scenes processes, Irgang reported, that means brand custodians can dedicate their time to far more meaningful tasks.
“Why wouldn’t you let the machine do that work? Why wouldn’t you put your energy in a place to really uncover value, uncover new customer segments, uncover new personas?” she asked.
Sourced from WARC
