Karim Lakhani and Marco Iansiti (photos by Susan Young; Getty Images)

Karim Lakhani and Marco Iansiti (photos by Susan Young; Getty Images)

Artificial intelligence is driving the latest seismic shift in the way companies conduct business. As major tech firms focus on gathering and analyzing data, for example, they are less interested in protecting what was previously considered proprietary information.

“Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Alibaba now open-source all their algorithms to make the most of their data,” observes Karim Lakhani, the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration. “The traditional model has been turned upside down. Having the data to innovate at scale is now the main thing.”

Lakhani and Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration, are frequent collaborators. Their new book, Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World, presents a framework for rethinking business and operating models. “AI is not just displacing human workers, it is changing the nature of firms, how they operate, and how they interact with the rest of the economy,” says Lakhani, the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Fellow at HBS who founded the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, where he and Iansiti are codirectors.

“With the spread of digital technology, the economy has become much more connected in a massive network,” says Iansiti. “These digital networks enable the unprecedented data flows that are restructuring the economy and changing the nature of competitive advantage.”

“The computer scientists and engineers developing AI don’t necessarily speak the language of business,” Lakhani adds. “HBS is training leaders to be fluent in both business and data science, and to act as the translational catalyst that will drive the successful adoption and application of AI in companies, nonprofits, and government.”

As part of the School’s Short Intensive Programs (SIP) in January 2019, Lakhani and Iansiti taught the four-day elective Business of Artificial Intelligence. Building on that course—and buoyed by student interest—the professors are developing an MBA elective to be taught in fall 2021 and eventually through HBS Online. The new course will explore questions managers face when adopting AI with cases addressing AI’s implications in a variety of business settings, including using algorithms to analyze radiology scans, applying quantitative analytics to marketing movies, and analyzing sales data from an online flash retail site to develop a better pricing model.

The teaching and research of HBS faculty reflect the growing importance of educating leaders who can leverage AI’s possibilities. In 2018, HBS led the development of the online Harvard Business Analytics Program. The certificate program—taught by business, engineering, and statistics faculty from across the University—trains mid-career professionals to analyze, translate, and incorporate data into high-level strategy. In addition, nearly 50 faculty members have conducted research and published articles in three broad categories: examining the effects of AI on particular firms, applying existing machine learning in new ways, and creating new machine learning approaches and algorithms. Topics such as how to improve customer targeting, streamline supply chains, and develop new products and services are addressed in the 70 cases published by HBS faculty.

The School’s Digital Initiative serves as a hub for this research, which is being incorporated across the curriculum—from MBA electives, including Reigniting Value through Frontier Technologies, to four Executive Education programs. The Initiative’s 2019 annual summit convened some 900 alumni, scholars, and practitioners to engage in conversations related to the topic of “AI, Ethics, and Business Decisions” from the perspectives of a philosopher, an attorney, and an entrepreneur. Its 2020 gathering takes place later this month. “As organizations around the world grapple with the implications of AI,” Lakhani concludes, “HBS will continue to strengthen its research and teaching so that tomorrow’s leaders are ready for whatever this emerging technology brings.”

Post a Comment