Sandinavian tech firm Tieto has appointed an artificical intelligence agent to the leadership team of a new data-driven business unit, giving the bot the opportunity to participate in team meetings and cast a vote on business direction.
The AI, called Alicia T., will become a fully-fledged member of the management team of the new division, which was set up in July to help Nordic clients build data-driven business services.
“I am confident that Alicia T. will help us in finding information and making data-based decisions that humans don't necessarily think of - and thus perhaps create something yet unforeseen,” says Ari Järvelä, head of Tieto Data-Driven Businesses.
He says the bot is equipped with a conversational interface so it is possible to have a discussion with it and ask questions. Although a basic construction, Alicia T.'s human handlers expect the algorithm to evolve and grow with the business.
"With AI we aim to use machine learning algorithms and see where this project leads us," says Taneli Tikka, head of innovation incubation, Data-Driven Businesses. "What is true from early on is that our leadership team at the data-driven business unit will gain valuable insight into how to create a winning team of great people and data-driven artificial intelligence.”
Tieto is not the first company to tread the human/robot leadership path. In 2014, Hong Kong-based life sciences fund Deep Knowledge Ventures appointed a computer algorithm to its board of directors, giving the program a vote on what startups to invest in.