Intelligent augmentation is “not building machines that think like humans, but designing machines that help humans think better.” According to Deloitte’s article, Cognitive Collaboration, this may be a more realistic, productive goal to aim for with artificial intelligence.

One of the first researchers to explore the idea of intelligent augmentation was J. C. R. Licklider, a psychologist and computer scientist who envisioned computers complementing human intelligence. He imagined humans doing important, strategic thinking and machines doing routine work like sifting through data and identifying predictions or recommendations.

Going forward, it may be helpful to consider the benefits of this method. In the essay, Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, Douglas Engelbart explores how humans build tools. We have always built tools to help us do things, like bicycles helping us efficiently get from A to B. He suggests that computers ought to be thought of in a similar way, “the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

Successful achievement of this vision may require a more balanced vision for AI, where we keep a human in the loop and consider prioritizing psychology and design thinking in the fields of data science and AI.

Read the full article from Deloitte.