AI MEETS INNOVATION For Emmanuel Probst, technological developments such as AI are rapidly transforming the innovation discipline—and it’s going to raise the game for everyone.
Emmanuel Probst, Author, Assemblage
With all the technology that’s available to us, I think that corporations are still becoming a little bit shy. We have many ways to test new products and new ideas, yet people are increasingly worried about taking risks. AI is going to help these innovators take risks. I know at this stage, it’s a little bit scary. I see technology and innovation going hand in hand. AI will enable the innovation function to automate the low-value-add and high-touch labor-intensive tasks and therefore free up some bandwidth—some brain space—for ideation and true innovation. I think that’s how the job function is going to evolve. Technology is going to raise the game for everyone. Instead of spending hours lining up for some A/B testing and iterations of the same product, “Should we do dark blue or deep blue or teal?”, you’re going to be able to automate all of that. By automating, you can focus on what AI cannot do: ideate, develop a vision, and do the thinking and the consulting. The job for innovators is going to get more compelling. If you were the one doing those automated tasks, you’re in trouble, and you need to upskill your game.
In a way, organizations have been doing great at collapsing the silos. For example, in marketing, you see organizations that are great at connecting e-commerce with ad placement and brand strategy. Having said that, human nature prompts that there is still—and there will likely always be—often some competition and some politics between different teams. In this effort to collapse the silos, organizations across the board have been doing much better at leveraging technology to connect the dots between different teams. PRIORITIZING TECHNOLOGY & CONSUMERS As an innovator, you want to move from developing with artificial intelligence into implementing. It’s becoming easy to leverage this technology, meaning you don’t have to learn endlessly how to write prompts
FEI 2024 & Key Innovation Perspectives
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