Working with AI: Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration

  • 4h 39m
  • Steven M. Miller, Thomas H. Davenport
  • The MIT Press
  • 2022

Two management and technology experts show that AI is not a job destroyer, exploring worker-AI collaboration in real-world work settings.

This book breaks through both the hype and the doom-and-gloom surrounding automation and the deployment of artificial intelligence-enabled—“smart”—systems at work. Management and technology experts Thomas Davenport and Steven Miller show that, contrary to widespread predictions, prescriptions, and denunciations, AI is not primarily a job destroyer. Rather, AI changes the way we work—by taking over some tasks but not entire jobs, freeing people to do other, more important and more challenging work. By offering detailed, real-world case studies of AI-augmented jobs in settings that range from finance to the factory floor, Davenport and Miller also show that AI in the workplace is not the stuff of futuristic speculation. It is happening now to many companies and workers.

These cases include a digital system for life insurance underwriting that analyzes applications and third-party data in real time, allowing human underwriters to focus on more complex cases; an intelligent telemedicine platform with a chat-based interface; a machine learning-system that identifies impending train maintenance issues by analyzing diesel fuel samples; and Flippy, a robotic assistant for fast food preparation. For each one, Davenport and Miller describe in detail the work context for the system, interviewing job incumbents, managers, and technology vendors. Short “insight” chapters draw out common themes and consider the implications of human collaboration with smart systems.

About the Author

Thomas H. Davenport is Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, Visiting Professor at Oxford's Saïd Business School, Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and Senior Advisor to Deloitte's AI practice. He is the author of The AI Advantage (MIT Press) and coauthor of Only Humans Need Apply and other books.

Steven M. Miller is Professor Emeritus of Information Systems at Singapore Management University, where he previously served as Founding Dean of the School of Computing and Information System Vice Provost for Research. He is coauthor of Robotics Applications and Social Implications.

In this Book

  • Series Foreword
  • Introduction
  • Morgan Stanley—Financial Advisors and the Next Best Action System
  • ChowNow—Growth Operations and RingDNA
  • Stitch Fix—AI-Assisted Clothing Stylists
  • Arkansas State University—Fundraising with Gravyty
  • Shopee—The Product Manager’s Role in AI-Driven E-Commerce
  • Haven Life and MassMutual—The Digital Life Underwriter
  • Radius Financial Group—Intelligent Mortgage Processing
  • DBS Bank—AI-Driven Transaction Surveillance
  • Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Record Coding with AI
  • Dentsu—RPA for Citizen Automation Developers
  • 84.51° and Kroger—AutoML to Improve Data Science Productivity
  • Mandiant—AI Support for Cyberthreat Attribution
  • DBS Digibank India—Customer Science for Customer Service
  • Intuit—AI-Assisted Writing with Writer.com
  • Lilt—The Computer-Assisted Translator
  • Salesforce—Architects of Ethical AI Practices
  • The Dermatologist—AI-Assisted Skin Imaging
  • Good Doctor Technology—Intelligent Telemedicine in Southeast Asia
  • Osler Works—The Transformation of Legal Services Delivery
  • PBC Linear—AI-Enabled Virtual Reality for Employee Training
  • Seagate—Improving Automated Visual Inspection of Wafers and Fab Tooling with AI
  • Stanford Health Care—Robotic Pharmacy Operations
  • Fast Food Hamburger Outlets—Flippy—Robotic Assistants for Fast Food Preparation
  • FarmWise—Digital Weeders for Robotic Weeding of Farm Fields
  • Wilmington, North Carolina, Police Department—AI-Driven Policing
  • Certis—AI Support for the Multifaceted Security Guard at Jewel Changi Airport
  • Southern California Edison—Machine Learning Safety Data Analytics for Front-Line Accident Prevention
  • Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority—AI-Assisted Diesel Oil Analysis for Train Maintenance
  • Singapore Land Transport Authority—Rail Network Management in a Smart City
  • It Takes a Village to Change a Job with AI
  • Everybody’s a Techie—Or at Least Has a Hybrid Job Role
  • The Platforms That Make AI Work
  • Intelligent Case Management Systems
  • Opportunities for Entry-Level Workers—Diminishing or Not?
  • Remote and Independent Work
  • What Machines Can’t Do (Yet)
  • Looking Ahead to the Future of Work with Smart Machines
  • Notes
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