If you haven’t heard of augmented intelligence yet, prepare to do so a lot more going forward.  In 2021, artificial intelligence (AI) augmentation will create $2.9 trillion of business value and 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity globally, according to research company Gartner, Inc.

Gartner defines augmented intelligence as a human-centred partnership model of people and AI working together to enhance cognitive performance. This includes learning, decision making and new experiences.

“Augmented intelligence is all about people taking advantage of AI,” said Svetlana Sicular, research vice president at Gartner. “As AI technology evolves, the combined human and AI capabilities that augmented intelligence allows will deliver the greatest benefits to organisations.”

Business Value of Augmented Intelligence

Gartner’s AI business value forecast highlights decision support/augmentation as the largest type of AI by business value-add with the fewest early barriers to adoption (see Figure 1). By 2030, decision support/augmentation will surpass all other types of AI initiatives to account for 44% of the global AI-derived business value.

Augmented Intelligence Enhances Customer Experience

Customer experience is the primary source of AI-derived business value, according to the Gartner AI business value forecast. Augmented intelligence reduces mistakes while delivering customer convenience and personalisation at scale, democratising what was previously available to the select few. “The goal is to be more efficient with automation, while complementing it with a human touch and common sense to manage the risks of decision automation,” said Sicular.

“The excitement about AI tools, services and algorithms misses a crucial point: The goal of AI should be to empower humans to be better, smarter and happier, not to create a ‘machine world’ for its own sake,” said Sicular. “Augmented intelligence is a design approach to winning with AI, and it assists machines and people alike to perform at their best.”

And to that we can only say: “Hear, hear!”