How Can Human-Computer “Superminds” Develop Business Strategies?

Abstract

Many people might think that strategic planning is one of the most difficult places for artificial intelligence—and computers more generally—to be useful in management. Tom Malone highlights that corporate strategic planning provides a useful illustration of several broad lessons about how computers are likely to be used in business. First, what matters most is not how smart the computers are alone but how smart the humans and computers are together. Second, in many cases, the most valuable contributions of computers will not just be their artificial intelligence but also their ability to provide hyperconnectivity—connecting people to other people in rich new ways. And finally, the most important uses of computers are not likely to be in replacing humans but in allowing people and computers to do things better together than either could do alone.

This chapter is adapted from Thomas W. Malone, Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together (New York: Little Brown, 2018; London: Oneworld Publications, 2018) and Thomas W. Malone, “How Human-Computer ‘Superminds’ Are Redefining the Future of Work”. MIT Sloan Management Review, 2018, 59 (4): 34–41. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.