Agentic AI—So hot right now!

We are in the earliest stages of Agentic AI, and, much like the early days of RPA and GenAI, there's a lot of excitement but also a lot of uncertainty. While the potential benefits are enormous— streamlined operations, lower costs, fewer human errors—there are equally important concerns about job displacement, bias in AI decision making, and a lack of transparency in how these systems operate.

The rise and potential fall of the citizen developer

The citizen developer movement was heralded as a revolution. Like most revolutions, things have sometimes gone differently than planned. The logic is sound, empowering those who know the business best to build the tools and systems needed to do their job. Ah, if only things were that simple …

Inefficient at the speed of light

While process mining started years ago as a mainly data-driven exercise, its stated goal is to be knowledge-driven. Given KM's multidisciplinary scope, we can play a major role in achieving that goal. Any process, no matter how simple, has the potential to reach across an entire business ecosystem, including all stakeholders. This seems like a perfect match for collaborative workflow, AI/ML, knowledge graphs, human sensemaking, and many of the other arrows in our KM quiver.

Pushing the boundaries of knowledge curation

Knowledge democratization occurs in two directions, seemingly engaged in an endless tug of war: acquisition and dissemination.

The third place of knowledge management

The third place I alluded to goes far beyond mechanistic KM or curated knowledge and takes us into the actual world of tacit knowledge. Here, knowledge comes from and often remains as personal experience, impressions, and intuition; it's undocumented and often hidden and elusive.

Should we go back to paper-based KM?

The sheer volume of largely useless data we have accumulated across the years severely limits the ability of AI to work well, and it comes at a heavy environmental and financial cost.

The flip side of generative AI: Extractive AI

Extractive AI takes a more comprehensive and transparent approach to machine intelligence.

The trust problem with GenAI

2023 has been the year of ultra-hyping GenAI, and who is paying for this deluge of marketing? Technology vendors that want us to buy it. Again, it's impressive stuff, but when we shift from selling to buying and ultimately using it, many tough questions need to be asked.

When is good enough enough?

Our goal should be to improve the quality of knowledge assets and their accuracy and relevance in use. Much of this will come from human expertise and effort, increasingly combined with the power of AI.

Are you data-driven or knowledge-driven?

We no longer need to blindly accept the output of even the most sophisticated AI/ML platforms. In fact, we should not consider any artifact, whether produced by humans or machines, as valid knowledge unless it contains not only supporting data and analyses, including provenance, but also an explanation of the underlying plausibility.

Look to the skies for KM opportunities

Then there's the inevitable demand for more automation, from the flight planning and clearance process to the operation of the air vehicles themselves. No human or group of humans could possibly keep track of so many constantly changing variables

AI technologies upending traditional KM

If we are not careful and proactive about it, the concept and importance of knowledge itself may soon become blurred or lost.

Return on … Infrastructure???

As our physical and IT infrastructure continues to grow in size, complexity, and vulnerability, people and the knowledge they possess will play an ever-increasing role.

The undiscovered country

Capturing and sharing what you already know is good; and with today's data and text analytics tools, it has become much easier than when we'd first begun this journey.

To hyperautomate or not to hyperautomate?

The logic behind hyperautomation is clear: Automate everything that can be automated. The practicalities of that are far less clear.

Finding the weakest link

Though traditional and often reluctant to change, the supply chain sector is now reassessing its lack of embrace of technology and, significantly, rethinking long-established processes.

Dispatches from the edge

Edge-of-chaos decisioning means being continually informed on the critical elements needed to make better, faster decisions.

AI’s ways of being immoral

The most powerful ML can require the resources of wealthy organizations. Such organizations usually have at best mixed motivations, to be charitable about it.

Fusion, fission, or something else?

When it comes to applying KM, the key is identifying and connecting the dots in meaningful and synergistic ways.

Thinking fast—and faster

If you're going to achieve consistent, effective high-speed decision making, it can't involve a protracted review by upper management.