More from these Authors

• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  Design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

  Roberto Verganti, Luca Vendraminelli and Marco Iansiti

  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is affecting the scenario in which innovation takes place. What are the implications for our understanding of design? Is AI just another digital technology that, akin to many others, will not significantly question what we know about design? Or will it create transformations in design that our current frameworks cannot capture? To address these questions, we have investigated two pioneering cases at the frontier of AI, Netflix and AirBnB (complemented with analyses in Microsoft and Tesla), which offer a privileged window on the future evolution of design. We found that AI does not undermine the basic principles of Design Thinking (people-centered, abductive and iterative). Rather, it enables to overcome past limitations (in scale, scope and learning) of human-intense design processes. In the context of AI factories solutions may even be more user-centered (to an extreme level of granularity, i.e. being designed for every single person), more creative, and continuously updated through learning iterations that span the entire life cycle of a product. Yet, we found that AI profoundly changes the practice of design. Problem solving tasks, traditionally carried on by designers, are now automated into learning loops that operate without limitations of volume and speed. These loops think in a radically different way than a designer: they address complex problems through very simple tasks, iterated exponentially. The article therefore proposes a new framework for understanding design practice in the age of AI. We also discuss the implications for design and innovation theory. Specifically, we observe that, as creative problem solving is significantly conducted by algorithms, human design increasingly becomes an activity of sense making, i.e. to understand which problems make sense to be addressed. This shift in focus calls for new theories and brings design closer to leadership, which is, inherently, an activity of sense making.

  Citation:

  Verganti, Roberto, Luca Vendraminelli, and Marco Iansiti. "Design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-091, February 2020.  View Details

  CiteView Details Read Now

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2017 (Revised January 2020)

  Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A)

  Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu and Kerry Herman

  Korea Telecom (KT) has committed $4 billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new products and services in development. The top five sectors identified by KT’s team include the Internet of Things (including connected cars and smart city/homes), media, health, energy, and security and surveillance, which might provide some quick wins both in terms of revenues and market lead. Should KT develop solutions that could be exported to other countries? Should KT go all in across all five sectors, or select one or two to prioritize?

  Keywords: Mobile Technology; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Telecommunications Industry;

  Citation:

  Greenstein, Shane, Feng Zhu, and Kerry Herman. "Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A)." Harvard Business School Case 617-014, April 2017. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2020

  Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A) and (B)

  Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu, Kerry Herman and Susie Ma

  Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 617-014 and 620-060.

  Citation:

  Greenstein, Shane, Feng Zhu, Kerry Herman, and Susie Ma. "Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-092, January 2020.  View Details

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related