AI in Practice can help you stay ahead, with the latest from Harvard Business School AI Institute's faculty and affiliates.
New research explores how deliberately imperfect outputs may help keep human reviewers vigilant. Modern AI systems increasingly present us with products that appear finished: complete slide decks with images, polished reports and emails, and even full web apps coded entirely by the AI. We therefore move into the role of the reviewer, but as AI […]
A new Harvard analysis mapped where data-center water actually goes. Recent social media posts have joked that using an LLM is a bit like turning on a hose, draining a bottle of water, or flushing the toilet. The idea being that every time an LLM answers a prompt, it heats up a microchip in a […]
In last month’s Tech Memo I ran out of room before the most important ‘don’t’ when measuring AI returns. So, here it is, along with this month’s action item and a look ahead to November.
A field experiment provides evidence that AI investment plans focus on the rivals next door.
AI Data Center
A randomized trial suggests purpose-built AI may help spot and support emotional strain. Modern life is full of signals. A watch can tell us our heart rate, an app can tell us how many hours we slept, and our fridges can even alert us if we’re running low on eggs. But when emotional strain begins […]
Why scalable AI ideation fails, and how to fix it. AI innovation has a motivation problem. Generating an idea with AI is only the first leg of a relay race that requires refinement, gathering support, and persistence when problems arise. But if an employee feels no psychological ownership over an idea, no sense that an […]
Researchers found that an AI-based assessment closely tracked leaders’ impact on human teams. Judging a leader with a successful team is like judging the conductor of a great orchestra: the outcome reflects both the person directing the group and the abilities of everyone around them. Measuring leadership therefore requires a way to separate the individual’s […]
Firms were built to control scarce knowledge. AI is testing that premise from the inside.
In recent conversations with my executive education students and clients, across sectors and around the world, the exploding cost of AI has been the dominant theme. In this memo you’ll find three pointers that can help you navigate AI spending and ROI.
