Welcome to Entanglement
Entanglement emerged through my work as a research fellow with an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarship for my Augmented-Humans project. The aim of the project was to identify how organizations can leverage artificial intelligence to drive business improvement and innovation without sacrificing human flourishing. This research was underpinned by several decades of experience in the field as a practitioner in business advisory and digital transformation. This book therefore this book represents a convergence of academic research with the wisdom of designing and implementing digital technologies in the wild – without the hype.
The entanglement of intelligent technologies with human lives requires the active participation of all of us to build responsible technology and resilient organizations and communities. Augmented human-machine systems require mindful orchestration that combines the unique capabilities of both human and intelligent technologies to enhance decision-making and human flourishing. These are the themes that are explored in this book.
I have refrained from referring to humans as “workers”, “users”, “resources”, or “human capital” – instead using “citizens” to elevate the importance of the role and rights of humans in the advancement of AI in workplaces and society. This is a provocation in an environment where media and industry tend to hero the technology over human capability and understates the innate complexity of augmented human-machine systems. Words and definitions matter to help break the techno-solutionist mental models that persist from our legacy systems, practices, and thinking since The Enlightenment.
Supplementary materials are a key feature of this book and include interactive activities such as AI design cards, the Designing Tiny Robots game, and AI design canvases that were initiated during my fellowship and later refined in practice. These are available as digital downloads from the book website. My aim is to inspire you into positive action in building sustainable solutions for organizations and citizens alike.
There are many courses, articles, and reports issued by consultants and solutions providers promising quick, simple, and easy ways to integrate AI into organisations – and with advice to do it fast otherwise you’ll be obliterated by mediocrity. This book does not offer any such advice or warnings. It instead urges you to take the time to fully understand the nature of human-machine entanglement in order to effectively navigate the path forward responsibly and sustainably. Some of the things that you will discover in Entanglement:
- Clarity on the entangled nature of humans and technology, and why we need a renewed approach to AI technology development and enablement. This has roots in key anthropological, historical and political developments that have framed western attitudes, and shaped the trajectory of the human-technology relationship.
- Guidance on how individuals, leaders, and organizations can take informed positive action by applying evidence-based models, principles, and frameworks to enhance what is uniquely human and enabling human-machine systems to flourish.
- Understanding that intelligent technology cannot be treated like legacy technologies of the past. Our contemporary socio-technical systems require intelligent, well-adjusted humans for overall system optimization.
- Inspiration for practical interactive tools and approaches such as AI design cards and a Designing Tiny Robots design game to facilitate human-machine system collaboration and co-creation with your stakeholders.
This book is a message of hope and a call to action. It dispels the myths and hype, it’s an advocate for humans in a dominant industry narrative that’s focused on machine superiority. It’s also an advocate for organizations disempowered by the influence of a handful of technology companies. The focus of this book is on empowering citizens by raising awareness of both the positive and negative effects that AI technology is having on our lives and shaping it to be a force for good.
Marigo Raftopoulos
Entanglement-AI 