Beth Stackpole
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Articles by Beth Stackpole
How to level up systematic innovation with AI
Organizations are under tremendous pressure to innovate amid changing customer demands and markets that are continuously in flux. Artificial intelligence can help — serving as a catalyst for changing work patterns and materially enhancing innovation and creativity processes. For that to happen, organizations must take a systematic approach and keep humans at the center of decision-making, said Steven Eppinger, a professor of management science and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Data or privacy? Businesses can have both, MIT Sloan research finds
There’s an ongoing debate over which kind of world delivers better economic value to consumers and business: one without restrictions on data collection? Or one that favors privacy through regulated data protections? A team of researchers conducted multiple studies to tackle the question of who benefits from the data economy and exactly how trade-offs arising from the protection or sharing of personal information affect data’s potential value.
A framework for determining when AI can make decisions
What tasks should artificial intelligence be trusted with, and when should humans remain involved? Designing those decision rights is one of the defining challenges companies face in the AI era. Researchers from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research have created a framework that can help. Using the AI Decision Matrix, business leaders can determine how humans and autonomous AI agents should participate in decision-making based on two dimensions: ambiguity and risk.
3 principles to bring your data monetization initiatives to life
In 2024, a team of researchers from the MIT Center for Information System Research developed a model that links effective data monetization strategies to strong financial performance. Now, in a new research brief, they explain why artificial intelligence has made robust data monetization capabilities not just a competitive advantage but a precondition for success.
Generative AI as a tool for market research
What could possibly go wrong with a minor product tweak? Anthropic recently learned the hard way after a pricing experiment with its Claude Code tool went viral on social media. The resulting developer backlash forced the company to backtrack on implementing changes to its subscription model. Like many companies do, Anthropic was simply testing the waters on product plans without shouldering the time and cost of a formal market research program.
Autonomy Demands Safety… How We Are Redefining Machine Safety In Our Autonomous World
As manufacturers embrace AI to advance autonomous operations, there’s a growing need for industrial safety to shift from an isolated and static set of controls to a dynamic paradigm that enhances machine and human collaboration. Despite advances in automation and expanded use of robots for key industrial tasks, safety systems and protocols have remained relatively unchanged throughout the years.
AI ethics and governance: Where will you draw the line?
In companies’ rush to capitalize on artificial intelligence, ethics and governance considerations often take a back seat. The impulse to move fast can undermine firms’ ability to launch a responsible AI program that delivers measurable business value, says Jeffrey Saviano, an MIT Sloan School of Management senior lecturer with three decades of experience at EY.
How to Get Predictive Maintenance Off the Ground
Driven by increased adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, specifically AI, manufacturers still rank predictive maintenance use cases at the top of their priority lists. Yet despite strong interest and recognition of key advantages, manufacturers are struggling to parlay compelling proof of concepts into something that delivers value at scale.
‘AI gravity’ is pulling you toward dependency. Here’s how to push back
MBA A full-time, two-year MBA program. Leaders for Global Operations A two-year, dual-degree program awarding an MBA from MIT Sloan and an SM from MIT School of Engineering. MBA Early (Deferred admissions option) Deferred admission program; candidates work two to five years before enrolling in the MBA program. MIT Evening MBA An MBA program designed for working professionals. Master of Finance A 12- or 18-month graduate program in finance.
‘AI gravity’ is pulling you toward dependency. Here’s how to push back
World News 2 hours ago The world’s mathematicians just issued a formal declaration telling AI companies to stop using their work without permission TNW - Alina Maria Stan • 2h A coalition of mathematicians from institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, ETH Zurich, Columbia, and Northwestern has published a formal declaration calling on the mathematical community to confront the threats that artificial intelligence poses to their discipline.
What leaders still get wrong about AI
Few organizations have successfully parlayed artificial intelligence experimentation into large-scale initiatives that move the needle on critical business metrics like revenue growth or productivity gains. There are myriad reasons organizations have yet to derive value from AI projects, but they share a theme: Firms embrace AI as the next flashy technology initiative rather than starting with a defined business problem and then working through necessary organizational changes.
How Modern Drive Technologies Are Solving Industry’s Toughest Precision Challenges
Precision and reliability have long been gold standards in manufacturing, and in the era of higher precision products, that requirement has intensified.
3 types of leaders that drive digital innovation
Many organizations struggle to convert data and artificial intelligence investments into assets that advance strategy and deliver measurable business impact. To succeed, they need effective and efficient structures that support digital innovation and ensure that the time, money, and talent poured into digital initiatives aren’t wasted. One way to accomplish this: harnessing a troika of leaders, each with distinct areas of responsibility and complementary knowledge and expertise.
Where to look for generative AI risks
Generative artificial intelligence is opening doors to unprecedented productivity and growth opportunities. Yet it’s also amplifying business risk, especially as organizations advance from experimentation — including exploring AI agents — to full-scale deployment. New research from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research can help business leaders take stock of the generative AI risk space — the set of components that introduce risk, including training data and user prompts.
This AI tool helps you ask better questions, get more authentic results
“Just ask ChatGPT” (or Gemini, or Claude) is becoming a familiar refrain as people increasingly turn to large language models for answers and prescriptive advice. That same generative artificial intelligence technology can help leaders ask better questions, which often results in more effective problem-solving.
Why Manufacturers Are Demanding Smarter, More Adaptable Industrial Robots
Industrial robots have long exceled at precision-oriented, repetitive jobs like welding, painting and assembly tasks in the automotive space or pick, place and packing applications that dominate material handling and logistics.
Action items for AI decision makers in 2026
Artificial intelligence has dominated economic and business attention for the past several years. But the hype cycle is slowing as organizations confront the challenges of enterprise AI deployment and the need to drive tangible business value. In an MIT Sloan Management Review article on their AI predictions for 2026 and a related video, Thomas Davenport and Randy Bean say that they expect a level-set year for AI.
Future manufacturing: How to solve the US productivity paradox
It’s a puzzling moment for U.S. manufacturing: Despite upticks in the number of new factories and workers over the past several years, real productivity has declined, out of pace with new investments.
Agentic AI, explained
16 hours ago In Europe, there's been a lot of handwringing over why there are very few large, successful tech companies in the region. Peter Steinberger, the creator of the agentic AI hit OpenClaw, has an answer. Steinberger was recently hired by OpenAI and is moving from Europe to the US. An Austrian by birth, …
Agentic AI, explained
Rewind a few years, and large language models and generative artificial intelligence were barely on the public radar, let alone a catalyst for changing how we work and perform everyday tasks. Today, attention has shifted to the next evolution of generative AI: AI agents or agentic AI, a new breed of AI systems that are semi- or fully autonomous and thus able to perceive, reason, and act on their own.
Smart Motion Control Upgrade Strategies to Avoid Costly Replacements
Complex integration challenges associated with melding traditional drives and motion control systems with modern Industry 4.0 technologies stands as one of the biggest obstacles to smart manufacturing for many companies.
How organizations can achieve big value with smaller AI efforts
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: Organizations are using generative artificial intelligence for “small t” transformations that help their businesses evolve. This means building capabilities and managing risks at each stage of a three-level risk slope: Level 1 focuses on low-risk individual tasks, such as email management and meeting summarization. Level 2 applies AI to specific roles, like coding and customer support. Level 3 integrates autonomous AI into products and operations.
How organizations can achieve big value with smaller AI efforts
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: Organizations are using generative artificial intelligence for “small t” transformations that help their businesses evolve. This means building capabilities and managing risks at each stage of a three-level risk slope: Level 1 focuses on low-risk individual tasks, such as email management and meeting summarization. Level 2 applies AI to specific roles, like coding and customer support. Level 3 integrates autonomous AI into products and operations.
Quantum computing reality check: What business needs to know now
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: Four guidelines for advancing commercial quantum computing: Address the need for more quantum algorithms. Don’t write off classical computing. Switch to post-quantum cryptosystems now. Accelerate the development of quantum error correction. Quantum computing is having a moment as the pace of startup activity, innovation, and funding deals heats up. Commercialized quantum computers and applications are a decade or more away, experts estimate.
Quantum report charts growing business interest, varied public awareness
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: The “Quantum Index Report 2025” analyzes business interest in quantum computing and public awareness of the new technology. Among its findings: An analysis of 58,070 corporate communication documents from 2022 to 2024 revealed increasing references to quantum computing. Corporate interest in quantum technologies is growing, rising from just four mentions in earnings calls in Q1 2016 to 25 mentions in Q1 2024 — a more than sixfold increase.
How AI is Reshaping Manufacturing Operations
72% of manufacturers using AI to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency, though adoption in operational technology remains more cautious than in enterprise IT.
Strategies for I/O Interoperability and Data Prioritization in Industrial IoT
Manufacturers face difficulties managing different I/O devices that use various protocols (e.g., Modbus, OPC UA and EtherNet/IP), signal types (analog, digital and serial) and generate massive amounts of data that can overwhelm collection systems. Unified I/O architectures can provide high-speed, deterministic communication across diverse I/O devices, while edge-of-network devices can interface with multiple fieldbus protocols and aggregate data into unified formats for local processing.
6 steps to succeeding with industrial AI
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: Adapting system dynamics concepts to industrial AI initiatives can accelerate adoption and help organizations avoid mistakes. Companies need to gather the right data and make sure it is shared with the right people at the right time.Employees need this information to make real-time decisions. Frame challenges as control problems and remember to simplify, by limiting project scope or using smaller datasets, for example.
Building a quantum workforce
facebook X linkedin email print What you’ll learn: Quantum skills are in demand. Posts for jobs requiring quantum skills tripled from 2011 to 2024. Governments, companies, and academia are investing in a quantum workforce through educational initiatives and training courses. There’s an immediate need for skilled quantum professionals. There are currently more quantum-related job openings in the U.S. than can be filled, and international talent will be needed to fill those positions.
New MIT report captures state of quantum computing
facebook X linkedin email print Quantum computing is evolving into a tangible technology that holds significant business and commercial promise, although the exact timing of when it will impact those areas remains unclear, according to a new report led by researchers at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. The “Quantum Index Report 2025” charts the technology’s momentum, with a comprehensive, data-driven assessment of the state of quantum technologies.
Industrial Controller Programming: AI, Low-Code Solutions and the Future of PLC Development
Low-code and modular programming environments are transforming PLC programming, with vendors providing pre-packaged libraries and objects that eliminate traditional IEC-61131-3 style coding, allowing programmers to focus on higher-level system concerns rather than rudimentary control details.
Industrial Controller Programming: AI, Low-Code Solutions and the Future of PLC Development
Low-code and modular programming environments are transforming PLC programming, with vendors providing pre-packaged libraries and objects that eliminate traditional IEC-61131-3 style coding, allowing programmers to focus on higher-level system concerns rather than rudimentary control details.
Is Workforce Automation the Cure for Manufacturing’s Talent Woes?
Why this article is worth reading: Nestlé transformed a critical powder production process from manual guesswork requiring decades of experience to an automated system that new workers can master within a couple of years. Discover the practical steps for identifying what to automate, from addressing quality and safety pain points to conducting ROI analysis and managing the crucial change management challenges that make or break workforce automation initiatives.
Beyond the algorithm: AI’s societal impact
facebook X linkedin email print There’s a huge appetite for artificial intelligence algorithms to generate predictive insights and achieve efficiency and productivity gains. But as AI is used in new ways, it’s important to explore the technology’s broad implications.
Beyond the algorithm: AI’s societal impact
facebook X linkedin email print There’s a huge appetite for artificial intelligence algorithms to generate predictive insights and achieve efficiency and productivity gains. But as AI is used in new ways, it’s important to explore the technology’s broad implications.
How to lead tech professionals and teams
facebook X linkedin email print Technology professionals, whether self-taught or highly trained, are in high demand — and not just at marquee tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple. Across every industry, scientists, coders, and software engineers have become synonymous with innovation, which has raised their profiles and empowered them to pursue independent work.
How to find the right business use cases for generative AI
7 hours ago Apple’s LLM study draws an important distinction about reasoning models There’s a new Apple research paper making the rounds, and if you’ve seen the reactions, you’d think it just toppled the entire LLM industry. That is far from true, although it might be the best attempt to bring to the mainstream a discussion that the ML community has been having for ages.
How to find the right business use cases for generative AI
facebook X linkedin email print While generative AI can be helpful to businesses, the technology has some notable shortcomings, including a propensity to get simple things wrong and occasional difficulty with basic logic. Given that, how should organizations think about finding the right use cases to effectively harness generative AI for sustainable business advantage?
3 ways businesses can use large language models
facebook X linkedin email print While powerful large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, Meta’s Llama, and Anthropic’s Claude are in increasingly high demand as foundational platforms for building a wide range of applications, success depends on how effectively people can use them. Many organizations are still looking for the right LLM strategy to drive productivity and promote innovative ways of doing business. “LLMs are a platform technology,” said a professor of the practice at MIT Sloan.
3 ways businesses can use large language models
facebook X linkedin email print While powerful large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, Meta’s Llama, and Anthropic’s Claude are in increasingly high demand as foundational platforms for building a wide range of applications, success depends on how effectively people can use them. Many organizations are still looking for the right LLM strategy to drive productivity and promote innovative ways of doing business. “LLMs are a platform technology,” said a professor of the practice at MIT Sloan.
3 ways businesses can use large language models
facebook X linkedin email print While powerful large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, Meta’s Llama, and Anthropic’s Claude are in increasingly high demand as foundational platforms for building a wide range of applications, success depends on how effectively people can use them. Many organizations are still looking for the right LLM strategy to drive productivity and promote innovative ways of doing business. “LLMs are a platform technology,” said a professor of the practice at MIT Sloan.
Smart Inventory, Smarter Manufacturing: The Convergence of Automation and Supply Chain Management
Why this article is worth your time … From warehouses to production lines — Discover how automation is reshaping inventory management, from smart warehouses to AI-driven material movement on the factory floor. The role of AI in inventory optimization — Learn how AI-powered decision-making is streamlining stock monitoring, order fulfillment and workflow efficiency in manufacturing.
Generative AI as a new platform for applications development
facebook X linkedin email print Personal computers, smartphones, and cloud services have spawned entire ecosystems that advance innovation.
How to Extend IIoT from the Plant Floor to the Enterprise Original
Why this article is worth your time: Discover which production functions hold the keys to the predictive and preventive maintenance, quality management and sustainability use cases. Learn how industrial packaging company Amcor uses HMI/SCADA visualization, analytics dashboards and MQTT to move beyond connecting individual assets to create a more holistic picture of operations.
Top benefits and advantages of quantum computing
Quantum computing's key benefits As the category evolves, quantum computing is not expected to serve as a direct replacement for classical computing, but rather as a complementary option for delivering substantial but highly specific advantages for certain types of problems. Here are four of the most important ones. Quantum mechanics is well suited for modeling processes and systems in nature that can't be accurately or adequately handled within the limitations of classical computing models.
Bringing transparency to the data used to train artificial intelligence
By Using the wrong datasets to train artificial intelligence models can result in legal risks, bias, or lower-quality models. The Data Provenance Initiative’s tool can help. facebook X linkedin email print Popular large language models like GPT-4 are trained using large amounts of data, including publicly available datasets. But these AI training datasets are often inconsistently documented and poorly understood, opening the door to a litany of risks.
Climate change and machine learning — the good, bad, and unknown | Flipboard
1 hour ago France: More than 100 countries participate in AI summit in Paris to avoid US-China duopoly Paris, France - February 10, 2025 Representatives and experts from a hundred countries are participating on Monday and tomorrow in Paris in a summit on artificial intelligence (AI) at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, to put his country on the map of this technological revolution and avoid the duopoly of the United States and China.
Climate change and machine learning — the good, bad, and unknown | MIT Sloan
Ideas Made to Matter Climate Change By Machine learning can drive climate action initiatives, but its widespread use could have negative implications, according to Climate Change AI’s Priya Donti. facebook X linkedin email print Machine learning and climate change have a complicated relationship: Machine learning can enable climate-friendly actions, but it can also hurt sustainability goals, given its large demand on energy resources and its role in climate-adverse business models and trends.
AutomationDirect Explains How Enclosures Keep Pace with Industry Needs
In a world where automation and controls technology get increasingly more complex, you can count on the enclosure category to remain relatively simple and straightforward. That’s not to say there aren’t new enclosure-related developments and innovations. The product segment continues to progress with modular designs, new materials and safety capabilities that are gradually transforming enclosures to meet the needs of modern automation applications.
RSA 2022: What to do when Ransomware Strikes
As Broadcom Software knows, ransomware, once obscure outside of the cybersecurity world, is now a household name as major companies, governments, small businesses, and critical infrastructure have spent time in the crosshairs, sending leadership scrambling for a best practices playbook. An RSA panel of experts participated in a simulation to instruct CEOs, CISOs, and boards of directors in how to effectively prepare for and execute a multi-faceted response to a ransomware attack.
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