Today, organizations face challenges that require superior intelligence, not only to adapt to change, but to anticipate it.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as the key tool for building what we could call the “brain” of organizations, a system that not only thinks and learns, but acts with foresight and efficiency that were previously unthinkable.
Intelligence, in its classic definition, is the ability to adapt to new situations. This involves three critical stages: understanding the situation, inventing the solution, and acting accordingly.
The story of Ulysses and the Sirens, a classic tale from Greek mythology, illustrates this ability. Ulysses, knowing that he had to face the danger of the Sirens, used his intelligence to anticipate events, designing a plan that allowed him to hear the Sirens’ song without succumbing to it or risking the lives of his crew. It is this type of anticipation that continues to make the difference between success and failure, both in life and in the business world.
The Sirens sang songs that bewitched sailors so that they would come close to the rocks where they lived. They would then be caught and never leave. Ulysses had an idea. The dilemma was that if they heard them, he and his crew would be bewitched. So he had his crew tie him to the mainmast of the ship and put wax in their ears so they wouldn’t hear the song or him when he ordered them to free him. The sirens could not overcome his ability to anticipate.
In organizations, intelligence cannot rely solely on individual capacity. It needs a collective system that integrates the knowledge of all members, both past and present. This is where AI plays a crucial role. Just as the human brain manages intelligence through anticipation and reuse of knowledge, AI in organizations makes it possible to predict future scenarios and prepare responses based on previous experiences.
The human brain cannot achieve excellence without memory. Although the emphasis of intelligence is on its ability to predict the future, it must be noted that it depends on what has been learned in the past. But knowing where one is going requires knowing where one came from. Knowledge and memory are needed for everything. Without memory, human beings would be defenseless and helpless.
The brain is the seat of intelligence. It is an organ that cannot be transplanted. Its secret lies not only in the memory of neurons, but in their associative capacity, that is, in neuroplasticity. Biological organisms without a brain have a basic nervous system that allows them to survive. AI also shows that a human brain is not necessary to produce intelligence.
Similarly, organizations cannot be truly intelligent without a system that captures and reuses accumulated knowledge. AI makes this process possible more efficiently, by systematizing knowledge and making it easier to access at the right time. Instead of reinventing the wheel, intelligent organizations – those that have integrated AI as part of their structure – can reuse previous knowledge, saving time and resources, and improving the quality of their decisions.
However, for AI to work, it needs to be fed with information. Just as humans build their world through learning, AI is trained with large amounts of data, becoming a true “double brain” for the organization. This double brain has two components: a physical one, formed by the collaboration network between the members of the organization, and a virtual one, made up of the AI model that collects and organizes the systematized knowledge.
Organizations without a “double brain” risk becoming inefficient, repeating mistakes, losing knowledge when their experts leave, and facing difficulties in achieving their goals. In contrast, intelligent organizations, those that have adopted AI as part of their structure, not only meet their objectives more effectively, but are also better prepared to design their future.
Neuroscience and AI share many elements in common, and it is this connection that allows us to transfer what we have learned from the human brain to organizations. By building a double brain, companies can ensure that each decision is made with the support of all accumulated knowledge, and at the same time, be constantly learning to successfully face the challenges of the future.
Ultimately, AI is not just helping organizations become smarter; it is creating the brain that will allow them to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive world. And since the future does not exist, by synchronizing the human nervous system with the digital one through intelligent organizations, we will be able to invent it. *Director of ILVEM, contact email (email protected)
