#4: Redefining Ai for Innovation

It's Time to make friends with Ai

It’s Time for Innovators to Make Friends with AI—and Welcome It into the Process in Meaningful Ways

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping nearly every facet of business, including innovation—a field that thrives on pushing boundaries. In a conversation with Bob Johansen from the Institute for the Future, I was struck by his perspective: instead of viewing AI as “Artificial Intelligence,” we should consider it “Augmented Intelligence”—a tool that enhances, rather than replaces, human creativity.

Despite widespread concerns about job displacement, security risks, and over-reliance on AI-generated outputs, I’ve found AI to be a powerful ally in the innovation process. From discovery and ideation to conceptualization and refinement, AI can accelerate and amplify creative efforts. However, it’s crucial to use it responsibly, ensuring that it complements rather than substitutes human ingenuity.

In this blog, I’ll explore five key ways AI—Augmented Intelligence—can serve as a valuable partner in the innovation journey, helping teams unlock new insights, generate ideas, and refine concepts more efficiently than ever before.

Not long ago, I had a conversation with our friend Bob Johansen from the Institute for the Future about AI and its impact on nearly every aspect of business—including innovation, a topic close to my heart. As I’ve experimented with AI across various stages of the innovation process, I’ve found it to be a powerful tool for both innovationists and our clients.

Yet, I couldn’t ignore the growing fears in the market: concerns that AI would eliminate jobs, that people didn’t know how to use it, that it would replace real innovation efforts with mere prompts, or that security risks were too great. In fact, one of our clients has even included a clause prohibiting the use of AI in their projects.

Despite these concerns, I kept discovering ways AI could enhance our innovation processes. This led me to a simple but profound realization: It’s time we made friends with AI.

Bob offered a perspective that deeply resonated with me—one of those “Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious.” Instead of thinking of AI as Artificial Intelligence, he suggested we reframe it as Augmented Intelligence... which he and co-authors Jeremy Kirshbaum and Gabe Cervantes discuss in their newly released book “Leaders Make the Future. 10 New Skills to Humanize Leadership with Generative AI.”

To me, “Artificial Intelligence” can feel intimidating, emphasizing risks and potential drawbacks. “Augmented Intelligence,” however, is empowering—especially in innovation, where we constantly push teams beyond their comfort zones. Many of our tools and techniques are designed to do just that, and AI can serve as another tool to expand our thinking.

Of course, security is a valid concern, and users must protect proprietary and confidential information. While I’m not an internet security expert, there are practical ways to mitigate most risks. More importantly, innovationists must recognize that AI is not a replacement for human creativity and collaboration. AI is unlikely to generate your next transformative breakthrough on its own. But as a tool, it can be an invaluable addition to your innovation toolkit.

Five Ways Ai—Augmented intelligence—Can Be a Powerful Innovation Ally

There are countless ways AI can support innovation, but here are my top five:

1. Enhanced Discovery

We believe in five phases for successful innovation:

1. Setting Direction

2. Discovery

3. Invention

4. Incubation

5. Implementation

Once you have a clear vision, task, and role for your innovation efforts, Discovery becomes a critical step. The goal is to explore and investigate—learning as much as possible about your market, competition, the people you serve, and advancements in science and technology. AI can be a valuable assistant, helping you seek out new information, identify patterns, and distill key insights into actionable opportunities.

• Exploring: AI can accelerate research by uncovering trends, analyzing data, and surfacing insights you might not have considered.

• Distillation: AI can process vast amounts of information—articles, journals, reports, and even electronic whiteboards filled with virtual sticky notes—identifying key themes, major trends, and crucial insights. For public or syndicated data, there’s no risk to proprietary security. When using AI with confidential data, appropriate safeguards must be in place.

2. Generating Stimuli for Ideation

Not everyone is a natural writer, storyteller, or visual thinker. AI can help turn insights into compelling stimuli—crafting headlines, summarizing key data points, and generating visual representations. Simple prompts can be incredibly useful, such as:

• “Summarize this insight in one sentence.”

• “Write a thought-provoking headline for this theme.”

• “Give me three one-sentence bullets that express the key support points for this insight”

• “Create an image that represents this concept.”

Chipshots: Create a concept style illustration of a potato chip shaped like a golfball, held in a hand with a golf glove with a background of a golf course

You may need to refine your prompts, but AI can be a powerful tool for amplifying creative capabilities.

3. Stretching Ideation

While I don’t see Ai as the primary idea generator, it can act as a wildcard in a collaborative setting—helping stretch thinking in unexpected directions. AI-generated ideas, whether brilliant, off-the-wall, or impractical, often serve as catalysts that spark human creativity. Teams can refine and build on these ideas in ways they might not have considered on their own.

Try including an Ai partner in your next ideation session—you might be surprised by the new perspectives it brings.

4. Iterative Conceptualization

In the past, we wrote concept statements and used “Visual Illuminators” to create conceptual sketches for early feedback. This process had its challenges:

• Writers tended to “sell” the idea, adding unnecessary puffery.

• Artists were expensive, took time and concept art required specialized skills different from advertising art.

Ai can now play a similar role—quickly generating:

• A one-sentence summary of your idea

• A paragraph description without marketing language

• Visual concept art within minutes

• Iterative refinements based on user feedback

This enables rapid “test and learn” cycles, accelerating the path from rough concept to refined innovation.

5. Ai as a Personal Editor

Nearly every graphic on my website was created using Ai tools. The surrealistic style reflects my personal taste—whether or not it’s for everyone, it represents me. Beyond visuals, Ai also serves as my editor.

I write every blog and piece of copy myself—every thought and opinion is mine. But before publishing, I ask Ai to refine my writing. I then review its suggestions, make final adjustments, and publish.

I’ve made friends with Ai—Augmented Intelligence (and yes, when referring to it this way, I prefer using a lowercase “i” to make a distinction).

I hope you make friends with it too.