Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has collaborated with MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR) to launch a new research series to explore the next phase of human and AI collaboration in large enterprises. As enterprises the world over are proactively investing in deploying AI-led solutions to transform their business operations, this multi-sectoral study deeply examines the new paradigms that will redefine the use of AI in global enterprise environments.

In a series of research articles covering Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods, BFSI, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Energy, Resources and Utilities, and Communications, Media and Technology sectors, the study investigates how business leaders are deploying AI augmented solutions to gain a competitive edge from better decisions.

The study on the theme of Human-Centric AI spans six key sectors and finds that generative and predictive AI can initiate a transformative change that drives competitive advantage. The year-long research that was conceptualised and executed jointly by MIT SMR and TCS drew insights experts and pioneers from organisations such as Walmart, Meta, MasterCard, and Pernod Ricard.

The research identifies one critical shift: AI is moving from advisor to architect. In simple terms, AI's value shifts from improving business processes to improving the quality of options to facilitate better decision-making. Companies that master this transition are pulling ahead of those still trapped in traditional decision-making frameworks.

TCS' industry expertise in strategising and supporting large global organisations in their AI-led digital transformation journeys using both generative and predictive AI along with the academic rigor of MIT SMR bring forth new and fresh thinking about using AI to augment and inform Human Intelligence. The collaborative research has revealed the emergence of intelligent choice architectures (ICAs) - a new paradigm where human-centric AI systems proactively participate in structuring and shaping strategic decisions by generating novel options, predicting outcomes, and guiding choices.

Michael Schrage, Research fellow at MIT Sloan's Initiative on the Digital Economy and report coauthor, said, "ICAs flip the script. They do not just learn from decisions - they learn how to improve the environment in which decisions are made. That's not analytics, that's architecture."

Ashok Krish, Head, AI Practice, TCS, said,

"By augmenting human judgment with machine intelligence, ICAs shift AI from task automation to building superior decision environments for complex multi-factorial situations, enabling more trackable, traceable outcomes that ensure accountability. They help align talent development strategies with organisational goals, making it easier to identify and nurture high-potential employees in the AI-era. Ultimately, ICAs foster environments where human judgement and AI work together seamlessly to create connected organisation intelligence, where smarter and more informed decisions are made."

Through this new study with MIT SMR, TCS extends its long-standing commitment to understand and uncover new trends in the industry and aid partners in integrating new technologies and frameworks. Over the years, TCS has collaborated with MIT SMR on industry research about direct-to-consumer enterprises, workforce empowerment, digital inclusion, retailing, and customer experience among others. Through its partnership with MIT SMR and 50 other academic institutions, TCS curates collective intelligence that enterprises can tap into.

The sector-specific study provides compelling examples of ICAs in action to optimize choices, reallocate decision rights, and boost their bottom lines. Organisations using GenAI have helped achieve higher productivity and efficiency and cut costs while unlocking newer growth opportunities.

In retail, AI enables retailers to both anticipate and address ma...