There are a lot of great books being published these days on the subject of artificial intelligence, as human authors attempt to tackle the technical, philosophical, and societal challenges posed by our growing reliance on smart machines. One I have recently enjoyed and also found highly thought-provoking is Radically Human: How New Technology is Transforming Business and Reshaping our Future, by Paul Daugherty. Regular readers of my posts will know that Daugherty is CTO at Accenture, and in fact I recently enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with him on the topic of the Metaverse Continuum – Accenture's top four tech trend predictions for 2022. While we were together (virtually), I also took the opportunity to talk to him about this latest book. It aims to explain many of the cutting-edge technologies that are revolutionizing business today – from AI to blockchain and the metaverse – but crucially to do it in a way that highlights the roles that humans will have to play if organizations hope to use them to their full potential.

This audio conversation digs into research on the emerging job categories spurred by AI and what leaders should be thinking about next. MIT SMR editor in chief Paul Michelman recently spoke with authors Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson to discuss the research that went into their (and coauthor Nicola Morini Bianzino's) 2017 article "The Jobs That Artificial Intelligence Will Create" and to find out what new developments in this space have their attention. This article is part of an MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. A major focus of the Daugherty and Wilson article is what kinds of skills will enable job transformation in the age of AI. Surprisingly, they've found that STEM skills, while important, are certainly not a prerequisite for transformation. In fact, their research shows that four soft skills are becoming much more valuable as human-machine collaboration advances. These skills include complex reasoning, creativity, social and emotional intelligence, and sensory perception. Get periodic email updates on how to incorporate new tech into your company's strategy and operations. Humans have never trained for many of the new jobs that AI will create -- so the question becomes, how do companies develop their workforce? Daugherty and Wilson cite the importance of experiential learning through hands-on apprenticeships and using technology to advance skills in new categories of jobs. In addition, the burden for skilling and reskilling must shift from the individual employee to the collective institution or organization.

Paul Daugherty: One of our fundamental premises with'Human Machine' is really the "plus" part of human plus machine. There's been a lot of this dialogue about polarizing extremes, that the machines can do certain things and humans can do certain things, and as a result we end up with this battle, kind of pitting what the machines will do versus the humans. We think that creates the wrong dynamics. So with'Human Machine' we're trying to reframe the dialogue to: what's the real interesting space, and really the big space, where humans and machines collaborate--we call it collaborative intelligence--and come together and help provide people with better tools powered by A.I. to do what they do more effectively? And if you think about it that way, we really believe that with A.I. we're not moving into a more machine-oriented age, we're actually moving into an age that's a more human age, where we can accentuate what makes us human, empowered by more powerful tools that are more humanlike in their ability, and that creates these new types of jobs.

Paul Daugherty and James Wilson, senior technology leaders at Accenture, argue that robots and smarter computers aren't coming for our jobs. They talk about companies that are already giving employees access to artificial intelligence to strengthen their skills. They also give examples of new roles for people in an AI workplace. Daugherty and Wilson are the authors of the new book Human Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI. SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast, from Harvard Business Review. By now, I'm used to the idea that machines are going to be an ever more present part of work.

The AI revolution is about re-imagining your processes, across all functions, to get the most benefit from this technology's power to augment human capability. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not the future -- it's here, right now. AI has many forms -- it is software that senses what we need, it is a supply chain that can "think" in real time, and robots that respond to changes in their environment. Early adopters across all industries are already using AI to innovate and grow fast, but, as a business or government leader, what does it mean for you? In a new book, Human Machine, Accenture leaders Paul Daugherty and Jim Wilson write that, as humans and smart machines collaborate ever more closely, work processes are becoming more fluid and adaptive, enabling companies to change them on the fly or to completely reimagine them.

Bigoted AI systems rightly deserve the universal flak they get. But there's a problem: we might still be screwed even if AI is neutral. Unless artificial intelligence has the "right" biases, AI and people won't coexist very well. Unless purposely wired to be ethical and people-centric, AI can be commandeered for malicious purposes or inadvertently cause serious socio-economic problems, not least of which is the precipitous loss of jobs. With machines already beating humans at manual tasks, games, back-office work, and even lawyering, who knows whether there'll be any job left in the future for the vast majority of humans to build their careers on.

As guests mingled among the appetizers and food at Accenture's Technology Vision event last month in San Francisco, California, jazz music played in the background. The band improvised a number of classic standards, which was noteworthy because one of the players was Shimon, a robot, and it was playing a mean marimba. The presence of a jazz-playing robot was fitting because the theme of the evening was the intersection of human and machine, highlighting the release of Accenture PLC's "Technology Vision 2018" report. It documented the need for enterprises to fully understand emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality and cloud computing. The robot's musical accompaniment offered yet another example of civilization's inexorable march to a world where machines are part of daily life, doing just about everything humans can do in real time.

The figures are contained in a new report, How AI Boosts Industry Profits and Innovation, authored by Mark Purdy, managing director – economic research, and Paul Daugherty, chief technology and Innovation officer, Accenture. "Artificial intelligence will revolutionise how businesses compete and grow, representing an entirely new factor of production that can ignite corporate profitability," said Paul Daugherty, chief technology & innovation officer, Accenture. Just as AI is continually learning, human intelligence must continue to develop and interweave with machine intelligence, according to the report. But the role needs to be expanded or supplemented by a chief data supply chain officer, Accenture argues.

Episode Summary: Accenture is a leading global professional services company in the tech space, providing services to many of the Fortune 500 and their global equivalents. The company recently conducted a study, combined with expertise from economists and AI researchers, about the longer-term economic impact of artificial intelligence around the world. In this episode, I spoke with Chief Technology Officer Paul Daugherty, who has been with Accenture since 1986, and who was joined by Global Technology R&D Lead Marc Carrel-Billiard. We met up at a coffee shop after an AI Summit in San Francisco, and I asked Paul and Marc about what they had learned from this newly-published study and what they consider to be the significant impacts of *AI and automation on the future job market. Brief Recognition: Paul Daugherty is Accenture's CTO and leads the company's Technology Innovation & Ecosystem group.

Episode Summary: Accenture is a leading global professional services company in the tech space, providing services to many of the Fortune 500 and their global equivalents. The company recently conducted a study, combined with expertise from economists and AI researchers, about the longer-term economic impact of artificial intelligence around the world. In this episode, I spoke with Chief Technology Officer Paul Daugherty, who has been with Accenture since 1986, and who was joined by Global Technology R&D Lead Marc Carrel-Billiard. We met up at a coffee shop after an AI Summit in San Francisco, and I asked Paul and Marc about what they had learned from this newly-published study and what they consider to be the significant impacts of *AI and automation on the future job market. Brief Recognition: Paul Daugherty is Accenture's CTO and leads the company's Technology Innovation & Ecosystem group.