The proliferation of AI platforms, including GenAI, calls for a more precise term to describe this transformative technology: AIHI (Artificial Intelligence for Human Ingenuity). AIHI captures the escalation in human impact that AI unleashes. Raquelle Zuzarte of Equity Project for All posits that ingenuity can be reached through five key drivers: cognition, creativity, capability, capacity, and culture.
What if an AI agent rewrote the lyrics of Tina Turner’s hit song “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
If ChatGPT creates a new version of the song, that would be an act of creation (Generative AI). If Spotify recommends similar songs, that would be an act of obedience (Traditional AI). The machine follows the rules and algorithms to distinguish between different classes of data (discriminative), whereas GenAI models learn the underlying probability distribution of data and then generates something entirely new (generative). Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is the next frontier and many postulate it is still very remote. AGI poses major ethical, legal, and societal implications given it simulates the human brain and may surpass human capabilities.
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Steve Jobs referred to computers as “bicycles for the mind.”
I believe that “AI is the rocketship for the mind” – potent, supersonic, and high risk, galvanizing us into unchartered territories and forcing leaders to adopt new digital operating models to survive. If AI is the rocketship, then we, the humans, represent the rocket scientists, astronauts, and mission control team. It’s essential to understand that AI, like a spacecraft, is a tool, a conduit through which human ingenuity flows.
For that reason, we need to adopt a new term, AIHI (Artificial Intelligence for Human Ingenuity) to accurately capture the escalation in human impact this new tool unleashes. As captains of this transformation, humans can showcase their ingenuity through five key drivers: cognition, creativity, capability, capacity, and culture. Those who have not already started on this journey, will be left behind.
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The black box of AIHI and growth
The rules of the game have changed – growth based on traditional business models and legacy operating systems will simply not work. The source for AI-driven business growth revolve around four key points of entry – starting always with strengthening the 5Cs:
- People (from change management to talent transformation)
- Process (from creative production to robotics manufacturing)
- Product (from recommendation engine to new personalized product features)
- Performance (AI-enhanced performance reporting)
Netflix, for example, successfully capitalizes on the cognition, creativity, capability, capacity, and culture of its teams across all these four Ps, fueled by its winning AI-first, data-driven, operating model – from extensive use of AI-enhancing user experience, optimizing content creation and delivery, and making data-driven decisions that contribute to its performance. In the end, it is human ingenuity which dictates which shows are ultimately greenlit. Netflix understands this delicate balance at the intersection of humans and machines and in many ways has created a symbiotic intelligence flywheel.
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The anatomy of an intelligent enterprise
Where is your organization on the AIHI journey? Companies fall into two camps – risk-savvy and strategic or reactive and ad-hoc. The responsibility for AIHI does not sit with any one C-suite leader. That would be like saying that business profitability is only the responsibility of the CFO. Marketing has the responsibility for identifying the most transformative use cases to maximize ROAS – but it is not necessary to start with the big wins. You need to start with the quick wins and most importantly, you need to just start.
The best way to start is to have a clear map of where you want to go – based on the problem you need to solve. Innovative companies have used a sequential yet simultaneous approach towards achieving AI results across five phases: Foundational, Incremental, Experimental, Transformational, Monumental.
Foundational focuses on using a data-driven, rule-based, autonomous yet non-AI approach to problem solve, optimizing all currently available resources. Get your data houses and lakes in order first – it is your oil for future growth.
This work can occur simultaneously as you embark on the Incremental stage, which refers to leveraging AI capabilities already incorporated in current business systems (Einstein with Salesforce, MS 365 Co-pilot, Hubspot AI are examples), a learning and ROI opportunity to extract value from existing investments.
Experimental refers to the two to three pilot projects that lead to quick wins and that can spark visibility with senior leaders and drive interest from other teams.
Transformational refers to business-transforming applications like optimizing internal marketing and data platforms (Omnicom-Google partnership) and cross-AI technology solutions to improve lives (Grand Prix winner, Michelob Ultra’s “Dreamcaster” used Gen AI to help a blind man translate basketball game data into Braille). For CMOs, the key focus should be to use GenAI to drive better storytelling and brand-building, solidifying the path to business growth.
The Monumental phase is futuristic and is closer to the singularity – including achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), where AI systems possess human-level cognitive abilities. This raises the critical importance of considering all the ethical, governance and legal ramifications of our AIHI journey.
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Humans and machines: The symbiotic future awaits
The future isn’t about AI replacing humans but rather enhancing human capabilities. It’s about creating a symbiotic relationship where AI handles the repetitive, data-intensive tasks, freeing humans to focus on higher-order thinking, creativity, and empathy-driven roles. Tina Turner spoke of this creative nirvana and the exhilarating feeling of flying high at this point of transcendence.
Are we ready to lift off in our organizations?
“What’s AI got to do with it?” The answer is simple: we decide. AI is the enabler, the accelerator, and the amplifier of human ingenuity. It’s a powerful tool, but its potential is only unlocked when coupled with human creativity and innovation. As we train our teams, train our AI models, we need to be open to this new exciting yet high-risk world – a world where we’ll ambitiously build a future, limited only by the rocket fuel of our imagination.
DALL-E image of Tina Turner on the AIHI Rocketship, 2023
Note: These are proprietary and original frameworks that cannot be reproduced, copied, published, displayed, modified, performed or distributed without express permission of Equity Project For All, LLC.
