The Automation Advantage

A new era of business automation is emerging.

Historically, businesses focused automation initiatives on replacing human labor with machine applications. Their goal was greater efficiency – machines could perform the standardized tasks of an assembly line, for example, more quickly, cheaply and safely than humans could.

In recent times, as the focus of the world’s major economies shifted from manufacturing to service industries, automation acquired a new role in knowledge work – tasks once the exclusive domain of human beings. This “intelligent automation” does not replace human workers. It supports and extends human intellectual talents.

The Italian newspaper Il Secolo XIX, for example, integrated artificial-intelligence automation into the work of its journalists and editors. An AI virtual assistant aids journalists by checking grammar and spelling, seeking out potential information sources and analyzing articles for “data consistency.” The Il Secolo XIX journalists don’t regard the virtual assistant as a threat to their jobs. Instead, they say automation makes them better journalists. They save time and uncover...