AI and humans need to work together for corporate decision making: TCS-MIT SMR study
Artificial Intelligence has been rapidly gaining traction. From simple web searches to your bank chatbot to factory floors, AI is increasingly everywhere. In this scenario, a key question that’s perhaps on everyone’s mind is how it will impact jobs and the work environment.
A new study by Tata Consultancy Services and MIT Sloan Management Review has now identified one critical shift: AI is moving from being an adviser to an architect. The study makes a case for humans and AI increasingly working together, a move that will mean AI will not just automate tasks, but there will also be better decision-making.
“AI’s value shifts from improving business processes to improving the quality of options to facilitate better decision-making. Companies that master this transition are pulling ahead of those still trapped in traditional decision-making frameworks,” it said.
The findings are based on a year-long research conceptualised and executed jointly by TCS and MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR). The research covered various sectors from manufacturing to banking, financial services, retail and consumer packaged goods, communications, media and technology, among others.
Ashok Krish, head, AI Practice, TCS, pointed out that intelligent choice architectures (ICA) will foster environments where human judgment and AI will work together seamlessly to create connected organisation intelligence where smarter and more informed decisions are made.
“By augmenting human judgment with machine intelligence, ICAs shift AI from task automation to building superior decision environments for complex multi-factorial situations, enabling more trackable, traceable outcomes that ensure accountability. They help align talent development strategies with organisational goals, making it easier to identify and nurture high-potential employees in the AI-era,” said Krish.
In manufacturing, hybrid decision making could help create better choices in product design, supply chain optimisations and other manufacturing processes, the study pointed out. Cummins, for instance, is exploring how generative AI can stimulate extreme scenarios in powertrain designs. ICAs could improve resilience and reduce time to market.
Elsewhere, telecom company BT has developed an AI-driven assistant, which is now part of 60,000 customer conversations weekly, handling about half of the interactions about product and billing questions on its own and this augments BT’s advisers on the other half, the study pointed out.
In healthcare, human-centric AI could have far-reaching impact on drug discovery, trials, diagnostics and patient care. ICAs combined with scientists could transform drug research, prioritising drug candidates with a higher probability of success, reducing time for drug discovery by 20-30 per cent and lowering the related costs by 30-40 per cent, the study noted.
No doubt, there will be widespread use of AI in the coming times, but there is also a case for its awareness and, importantly, accountability.
“What we need are systems that foster ICAs—enabling the organisation to see, understand, and act with awareness. Accountable AI demands clarity not only in outcomes but in the choices considered, the priorities weighed, and the trade-offs accepted. Without this, intelligent systems will silently assume decision-making authority—often without oversight or recourse,” said Sankaranarayanan Viswanathan, VP at TCS.
Sci/Tech