When seemingly disparate fields, industries, and ways of thinking merge, a convergence happens, which, has the power to build more intuitive and advanced futures for both organizations and the everyday consumer, says Accenture communications, media and technology industry group chair, Kathleen O’Reilly and Daniela Rus, Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Today, the kind of superpowers that seem to belong in storybooks can be achieved by mathematical models, computation, new materials, AI, robotics–this convergence of fields,” says Dr. Rus.

This episode is part of our “Building the future” podcast series. It’s a multi-episode series focusing on how organizations, researchers, and innovators are meeting our evolving global challenges. We understand the importance of inclusive conversations and have chosen to highlight the work of women on the cutting edge of technological innovation, and business excellence.

A combination of technology and human ingenuity will push boundaries as companies look to enter a new wave of innovation through data and AI to enable growth. Although O’Reilly estimates that we’re in the early stages of this transformation, she predicts that this convergence will be the biggest change since the industrial revolution.

“We are seeing with the exponential pace of technological innovation, which we believe is going to continue, that this is really creating an opportunity for one of the most exciting periods of positive change and progress for all of history,” says O’Reilly.

Much of this acceleration occurred over the course of these last pandemic years as many businesses and consumers alike take advantage of remote working operations including digital payments, telehealth appointments, and AR/VR experiences. But to anticipate and learn from the future, organizations and leaders always need to look to data and the insights derived from it.

“Intentional futurists,” says O’Reilly, “use AI-based analysis to find patterns, anticipate trends, detect new sources of growth opportunities, understand their consumers, their customers, other enterprises, the markets and their employees better.”

Practically, to bring this convergence from both leadership and academia, organizations need to be mindful of regulations and ethics to drive forward positive innovation and transformation.

“Whether you are a technologist, a national security leader, a policymaker or a human being,” says Dr. Rus. “We all have a moral obligation to use the AI tools to make our world safer, and better, and to make the lives of our citizens safer and better in a just and equitable way.”
 

This episode of Business Lab is produced in association with Accenture.

Related reading

• Transforming the industry that transformed the world, 2022, Accenture
• Convergence unlocks adjacent growth, 2022, Accenture
• Equality = Innovation, 2019, Accenture