Augmentation: The Promise and Possibility of Human-Machine Collaboration
Every now and then, a technology comes along that changes everything. These are known as general purpose technologies (GPTs), because they change many aspects of our lives in different ways, spur new innovations that flow from them, and make us more productive and prosperous. But the impacts of GPTs take time to be seen, and they don’t flow equally to every segment of society, especially without complementary investments that help the power of a GPT’s benefits reach a broader range of communities. While it took several decades for AI to get off the ground in a real way, those who know this technology best now observe it becoming a GPT. Having seen this to be the case in other eras of industrial revolution, such as when electricity or railroads fueled decades of enormous economic and societal change, how can we be best prepared for the arrival of a GPT like AI today, and what can we do to help the benefits AI might generate stream more quickly and effectively to more people across industries and incomes? The answer may lie in a thoughtful approach to a process called augmentation.