Welcome To The Augmentation Economy

Thus far, much of the debate over artificial intelligence has focused on the idea that machines are going to replace humans, jobs will disappear, and life as we humans know it will cease to exist. But a different model is beginning to emerge, particularly in knowledge-intensive industries: one that doesn’t wipe humans out but enhances what they do.

Case in point: Novo Nordisk (NVO) recently announced a collaboration with Anthropic to use AI in drug discovery, applying Claude to scientific reasoning and specific research challenges identified by Novo’s scientists and computational teams. The idea is not to replace the scientist but to expand what the scientist can analyze, test and accomplish.

We are seeing much the same thing in—of all places—asset management! Millennium Management announced in August that it was working with Anthropic to develop a digital risk analyst—a supervised AI teammate designed to analyze risk positions, explain changes in risk and surface insights across asset classes. Millennium says the objective is to augment its risk professionals while keeping human judgment at the center of decision-making.

Human expertise + proprietary data + institutional knowledge + AI = an enhanced process—one that leverages human capabilities to a more productive end. Voila! The Augmentation Economy.

So, while we wait with justifiable concern for the end of human existence as we know it, maybe all this enhancement stuff might actually produce some helpful outcomes that enhance life as we know it. And, perhaps in the process, save us from ourselves—human or artificial.