Advances in Artificial Intelligence create unprecedented opportunities for automating tasks that previously could only be done by humans -- for example, driving cars, writing essays, or creating novel drugs –but also impacts the workers doing those tasks today (i.e. rideshare drivers, authors, and chemists). As AI is infused into more and more systems, there is increasing need to study and understand the impact automation has on our workforce, but also on how we interact with intelligent systems and how such systems need to be designed to most effectively support their human users. Our Human-Centered AI agenda at IBM Research has explored a different perspective on Human-AI interaction, investigating the transformation of the interaction to a more collaborative relationship in which humans and AI systems work hand-in-hand to create a desired outcome.

In this talk we will explore the theme of collaboration versus automation with AI through a number of research projects and scientific studies we have conducted in the context of AI Lifecycle Management, Automated Model Generation and Exploration for Data Scientists, Human-in-Loop Data Labeling, Explainability and Trust in AI systems, and AI-Infused Process Automation, as well as Generative Models and how they fundamentally change how humans will interact with AI systems in the creative industries and for content generation. This talk will give a unique industry perspective on designing and building AI systems with users in mind.