Artificial Intelligence – A New Paradigm in Innovation

Artificial intelligence is a technology that has changed the world in a dramatic way. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only a new technology, but it has completely changed the way innovation works.

In the past, I have seen many “revolutionary products” that were actually improvements to what was already available. What’s going on with AI now is an entirely different story. Not only are we seeing automation, but also a change in the way that people solve problems.

The Big Data revolution is transforming into the Big Knowledge

Data and knowledge are vastly different. Companies and industries today are drowning under information. They’re unable to get any real value out of it. Artificial intelligence turns this chaos of information into a system that organizes knowledge and becomes the basis for innovation.

AI can detect patterns and connections that are invisible to humans when it processes data in terabytes. It is this ability that has led to the development of an entirely new way to innovate: from data to identify unseen needs and opportunities.

This approach has shown to increase the effectiveness of innovation in organizations. This approach’s key characteristic isn’t the speed at which data can be processed, but rather the ability to recognize patterns that aren’t obvious and predict based on those patterns.

Reorienting the priorities of your innovation budget

A revolution is underway in the strategy for investing in innovations. Previously, companies would allocate their budgets to different research areas. Today, a growing share of the innovation budgets are allocated to AI technology development.

Today, R&D and machine learning departments merge with R&D in many companies. This merger was based on the simple idea that machines can now identify hidden potential in vast amounts of data.

Most progressive countries are reshaping their innovation strategies to include AI. They create specialized institutes and allocate significant funds in this direction. The investment volume reaches tens and tens billions dollars. This is more than the budgets for many national programs.

Generative revolution: machine imagination

The most important impact of AI on innovation is the development of models which can generate something entirely new rather than just analyzing existing data.

The boundaries between machine and human creativity are blurred. The models are able to offer creative solutions humans may not have considered, while working within the constraints of their knowledge and cognition.

Generative AI has revolutionized the way content is created in the industry of virtual worlds. The spaces created by algorithms often do not follow established design rules, but in tests, they show amazing results – the users spent 40% more time and were significantly engaged.

Recently, I attended a demo of a new system that creates virtual environments using AI. The system did not follow the usual approach, whereby the user first defines the function and then creates the design. Instead, it offered hundreds of different options, including spaces that had unusual architecture. These were tested using virtual avatars. Testing results led to an unconventional, but highly effective environment for user interaction.

Stay ahead with predictive innovation

AI’s predictive ability is changing the way we innovate. In the past, firms created products hoping that consumers would love them. They can now predict the consumer’s reaction to a product with high precision before it is even developed.

Artificial intelligence systems, which analyze market and user trends to identify consumer needs are able to provide insights that consumers may not be aware of. The focus shifts from reactive to proactive innovation. This allows for the development of new products which solve problems people might not even have known existed.

The AI system I managed in one of my metaverse projects analyzed the test users’ interaction with different elements and anticipated potential frustrations long before it became apparent. The AI system was able to predict potential frustrations in the metaverse environment before they became apparent.

Collaborative innovation: human + machine

Human and artificial collaboration is the key to modern innovation. In the age of collaborative innovation we are moving into, artificial intelligence is not a replacement for creativity but rather an amplifier.

AI is responsible for the mundane aspects of innovation in this model: analysing data, creating variations, testing hypotheses and optimizing parameter values. On the other hand humans focus on solving problems, evaluating solutions, ethical issues, and understanding underlying needs.

The symbiosis of these two forces allows innovation to be carried out at a speed and level that is unprecedented. Designers and engineers can create thousands of possibilities instead of just a few dozen. Instead of wasting energy on mundane tasks, they can concentrate on creative elements that need empathy and a human viewpoint.

The notion of what is possible has changed.

Artificial intelligence has the greatest impact on innovation by expanding our ideas of what’s possible. AI solutions which contradict existing principles and yet work force us to reconsider our assumptions regarding industry, technology, or human behaviour.

Many fields are experiencing amazing changes. AI constantly pushes the limits of what’s possible. From materials that have properties which seem impossible to software architectures with superior performance but break conventional models, AI continues to challenge our perceptions.

This means that innovators have to rethink their approach in order to create new products. You can no longer improve on existing solutions. Instead, you must be willing to change the foundational principles that govern your field.

The amazing thing is we are only beginning to understand the possibilities of this paradigm shift in innovation.