506. From Human Logic to Machine Intelligence: Rethinking Decision-Making with Kartik Hosanagar

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Jan 29, 2025

Kartik Hosanagar, a Professor of Technology at The Wharton School, discusses the impact of AI on decision-making. He explores the similarities between human algorithmic thinking and machine intelligence, emphasizing the need for AI literacy. Hosanagar highlights the importance of trust and transparency in AI systems, particularly in fields like healthcare. He also delves into the evolving roles of CTOs and CIOs, and the intersection of AI with creativity, advocating for a balance between human expression and algorithmic influence.

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ANECDOTE

Kmart's Dot-Com Failure

Kmart's failure after the dot-com bust illustrates the danger of resisting technological change.
Their separate "dot-com division" approach proved ineffective.

INSIGHT

Science of Management

Academics provide value by studying patterns across many businesses, not just individual stories.
This scientific approach helps determine which management practices work best in different situations.

INSIGHT

Algorithmic Thinking

Both human and algorithmic decision-making follow rules, akin to algorithms.
Recognizing this similarity helps understand the nuances of AI's impact.

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The world of decision-making is now dominated by algorithms and automation. But how much has the AI really changed? Haven’t, on some level, humans always thought in algorithmic terms?

Kartik Hosanagar is a professor of technology at The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. His book, A Human's Guide to Machine Intelligence: How Algorithms Are Shaping Our Lives and How We Can Stay in Control explores how algorithms and AI are increasingly influencing our daily decisions and society, and proposes ways for individuals and organizations to maintain control in this algorithmic world.

Kartik and Greg discuss the integration of AI in decision-making, the differences and similarities of human based algorithmic thinking and AI based algorithmic thinking, the significance of AI literacy, and the future of creativity with AI.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

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Guest Profile:

Faculty Profile at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Kartik Hosanagar’s Substack
Professional Profile on LinkedIn

His Work:

A Human's Guide to Machine Intelligence: How Algorithms Are Shaping Our Lives and How We Can Stay in Control

Episode Quotes:

What’s a good system design for AI?

43:02: A good system design for AI systems, would be when there's deviation from the recommended decision to have some feedback loop. It's like in a music recommendation system, and Spotify Discover Weekly or any of these other systems where a recommendation comes in; ideally, you want some feedback on did this person like the song or not. And if there's a way to get that feedback, whether you know one way is it's an explicit feedback thumbs up, thumbs down, sometimes it's implicit; they just skipped it, or they didn't finish the song, they just left it halfway through, or something like that. But you need some way to get that feedback, and that helps the system get better over time.

At the end of the day, humans shape the future of AI

12:43: This view that it's all automation and we'll have mass human replacement by AI, I think, at the end of the day, we shape that outcome. We need to be actively involved in shaping that future where AI is empowering us and augmenting our work. And we design these human-AI systems in a more deliberate manner.

On driving trust in algorithmic systems

36:08: What drives trust in an algorithmic system shows that transparency and user control are two extremely important variables. Of course, you care about things like how accurate or good that system is. Those things, of course, matter. But transparency and trust are interesting. So, in transparency, the idea that you have a system making decisions for you or about you, but you have no clue about how the system works, is disturbing for people. And we've seen ample evidence that people reject that system.