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Brian Eastwood Why It Matters The combination of AI and human workers holds the most promise for tasks that humans currently perform better than AI and those that involve creating content.S One of the most common arguments for bringing artificial intelligence into the enterprise is the potential for AI to help humans by complementing the work they do. But leaders first must understand whether and when AI and humans can perform better together than either can on its own. A recent paper from researchers at the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence found that on average, AI-human combinations do not outperform the best human-only or AI-only system. “This was our most surprising finding,” said MIT Sloan professor Thomas W. Malone, CCI’s director. “Some of the most important and interesting use cases for AI involve a combination of humans and computers. Many people would have assumed the combination would be quite a bit better, but it was statistically significantly worse.” The paper, based on a review of more than 100 studies on human-AI collaboration, was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. The research sheds light on when the combination of AI and human workers is most poised to succeed — such as tasks in which humans outperform AI on its own, tasks involving creating content, and creation tasks involving generative AI. Combinations work when humans, AI do what they do best Malone and his co-authors — MIT Sloan assistant professor Abdullah Almaatouq and Michelle Vaccaro, an MIT doctoral student and CCI affiliate — analyzed 370 unique effect sizes from 106 experiments that evaluated the performance of humans alone, AI alone, and human-AI combinations. The studies were published between January 2020 and July 2023. (Effect size is defined as the magnitude of the difference between variables in a study.) The researchers found that the combination of humans and AI, on average, outperformed the baseline of humans acting on their own, but it did not perform better than the baseline of AI on its own. Notably, the average performance scores for the combination of humans and AI were lower than those of the best human or AI systems. For example, AI alone proved to be the most successful at detecting fake hotel reviews, with an accuracy rate of 73%, compared with 69% for humans and AI together and 55% for humans alone. The researchers hypothesized that because people were less accurate at the task in general than the AI, they were also not very good at deciding when to trust the algorithms and when to trust their own judgment. This resulted in lower performance for the combination of AI and humans than for AI alone. “Combinations of humans and AI work best when each party can do the thing they do better than the other,” Malone said.Redefining processes is better than reassigning tasks The researchers said human-AI collaboration can take two different forms. Human-AI augmentation takes place when the average human-AI system performs better than a human alone. Human-AI synergy occurs when human-AI output outperforms both humans and AI alone. Achieving human-AI synergy is hindered by several challenges. The first is understanding when humans alone, AI alone, or the combination of the two will be most effective. Many organizations struggle with this, Vaccaro said, because they tend to overestimate the effectiveness of the systems they have in place. Randomized experiments, such as A/B tests that evaluate outcomes across the three use cases, can provide data-driven insights here. The second is applying the results of such experiments to achieve change. This is less about dividing subtasks between humans and AI, Malone said, and more about redesigning the whole process of how they work together. Companies looking to automate the mass production of furniture, for example, would need to consider whether they should automate not just the intricate steps of assembly but also the onerous process of moving a finished wardrobe across the factory floor. “We found humans excel at subtasks involving contextual understanding and emotional intelligence, while AI systems excel at subtasks that are repetitive, high-volume, or data-driven,” Vaccaro said. After deciding on a strategy, it pays to adopt a model of continuous improvement. “Start with a basic workflow, then monitor performance, and, finally, refine the workflow based on outcomes and user feedback,” she said. Generative AI shows the power of collaboration One area of promising synergy between humans and machines is generative AI. The researchers found that human-AI combinations performed worse on tasks that involved decision-making but better on tasks that involved creating content. Creation tasks were relatively unexplored during the study period — only 10% of papers that were reviewed looked at content creation. But in those cases, “the average effect size for human-AI synergy was positive and significantly greater than that for the decision[-making] tasks,” which made up the bulk of the research and tended to have negative effects, the researchers write.

StudioLAB is Disney Studios’ advanced development team for dedicated storytelling via emerging technology LOS ANGELES, April 8, 2025 / — Today, Deloitte and The Walt Disney Studios’ StudioLAB announced a new collaboration that will allow the two organizations to push the boundaries of innovation in storytelling by delivering transformative technologies and processes across the full lifecycle of production. This collaboration will help shape the moments that entertain and inspire by equipping the storytellers at Disney with the next generation of tools to bring their creative visions to life leveraging Deloitte’s emerging technology capabilities and deep sector knowledge of its Media & Entertainment Practice. The teams have already started working together on a concept for the future of production previsualization in Virtual Reality. This new tool aims to put previsualization directly into the hands of directors and other key creative leaders, empowering them to build scenes, and experiment with camera moves, actor blocking, and props. This is a more straightforward and intuitive approach that doesn’t require these individuals to learn complex modelling or animation tools. This tool also features the ability for creatives to communicate their vision collaboratively and interactively with their teams right away — true rapid prototyping of creative ideas, without relying on more time-consuming means of sharing such as words or sketches. “The content creation industry is undergoing a technology-fueled transformation, with the rise of new creation tools changing how the media and entertainment ecosystem looks, feels and operates. It’s crucial to empower creatives with the most advanced tools available to shape the future of storytelling,” said China Widener, vice chair and technology, media and telecommunications industry leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Our collaboration with StudioLAB exemplifies our commitment to building the media production landscape of the future, and together we look forward to demonstrating that innovation has no limits.” “Disney is synonymous with imagination and innovation and this collaboration is a fantastic example of our dedication to creating innovative tools for our creatives,” said Jamie Voris, executive vice president of Technology Enablement at StudioLAB. “We’re thrilled that our work with Deloitte is already yielding benefits and helping our creatives bring magic to the screen.” StudioLAB is led by industry specialists with decades of experience in film production, creative experience design, and content pipelines. Along with design, development, and delivery of the technologies and processes upon which they are built, StudioLAB is ideating concepts and building tools to inspire and empower creatives to tell the next great Disney stories. Its mission is to drive innovation in support of the creative process. To learn more about Disney StudioLAB, please visit: StudioLAB. About DeloitteDeloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 8,500 U.S.-based private companies. At Deloitte, we strive to live our purpose of making an impact that matters for our people, clients, and communities. We leverage our unique blend of business acumen, command of technology, and strategic technology alliances to advise our clients across industries as they build their future. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Bringing 180 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte’s approximately 460,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com. Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms. source PRNewswire

Addition of Over 750 New Fonts, Including Iconic Typefaces Helvetica, Avenir, and Gotham, Boosts Creativity and Improves Workflows for Adobe Users WOBURN, Mass., April 8, 2025  –Monotype Imaging Inc., a global leader in type design and technology, announced today an exciting extension of its longstanding partnership with Adobe. Hundreds of the most popular, high-quality fonts from the Monotype library and select foundry partners are now integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud and available to subscribers around the world.With this new integration, Adobe Creative Cloud users now have seamless access to a total of more than 2,800 high-quality fonts from Monotype and its global foundry partners across Adobe Express, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and many more Adobe applications. Font additions include some of the world’s best loved and most used fonts from the Monotype library, including Helvetica®, Avenir®, Gotham®, Benton Modern™, and FF DIN®, with language support for Arabic, Hindi, and Japanese, among others, enabling users to create designs and documents for the global work environment. The increased popularity of design platforms, ubiquity of social media, and rise of integrated AI tools are driving a worldwide renaissance in human creativity. Typography — the art and science of font choice — remains at the heart of most creative projects and endeavors. Recent Monotype research reveals that 82% of creatives say choice of font is one of the top three critical decisions in any design project and 85% view choosing a distinctive font as critical to shaping a brand’s identity. Dan Rhatigan, Director of Inventory Curation at Monotype said, “What we love about this new extension of our long-standing partnership with Adobe is that there are now thousands of fonts from Monotype at the heart of the Creative Cloud workflow. Our goal is to get our fonts and those from our amazing foundry partners in the hands of as many creative professionals possible — right in the space where they design — so we can continue to elevate the world’s design to new heights.“ Govind Balakrishnan, SVP and General Manager, Adobe Express, said, “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Monotype by integrating hundreds of additional Monotype fonts into our industry-leading library of over 30,000 fonts that our users can seamlessly access across the full suite of creative tools, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Express. This expansion not only enhances design possibilities for our users but also reinforces our commitment to empowering creativity through exceptional typographic tools.“ The new Monotype font collection will also help improve brand consistency, with the addition of many brands’ top go-to typefaces to Adobe Creative Cloud, leading to more seamless font integration across workflows. Creative teams experience frustration when relied-upon fonts are unavailable in their design environments, taking a toll on workflow, timelines, and budgets. By incorporating these sought-after, heavily-used Monotype fonts directly into Adobe Creative Cloud, creative teams will see a reduction in costly workflow disruptions, creating a better experience for creatives and their clients. Key benefits of the partnership include: Mike Matteo, Chief Typography Officer at Monotype, pointed to the forward-thinking approach. “Our deepened alliance with Adobe reflects a shared commitment to empowering creativity with precision and purpose. Design trends move fast, and businesses can’t afford to lag behind. This partnership ensures Adobe Creative Cloud users have instant access to fonts that define the moment, with quarterly updates to keep them ahead of the curve — maximizing both creative potential and market relevance. These fonts form the foundation of a common core for typographic expression.” source /PRNewswire/