They may be better at certain things than we are. They are fantastic calculators, perceive their environment with sensors and process millions of variables and data, edit them precisely, better and even faster. They can independently recognize patterns or run programs. But, machines do not understand what they are doing. They are still mathematical models, probability calculations.

The appropriate measure: the thinking human as navigator

Although AI systems are much less clever than their name suggests, their possible uses are diverse. In particular, they are useful tools to improve the quality of our decisions. For example, medical AI systems in diagnostics support decision-making about the most effective treatment method or make everyday work easier by being able to take over specific work steps. Another milestone in artificial intelligence has been set with the ChatGPT, a new generation of conversion agents. AI systems can now write applications, do homework, write poems, create a business plan. At first glance, they make our lives much more comfortable.

But this facilitation is treacherous. Too much artificial intelligence dims our autonomy and self-efficacy, makes us appear as puppets of a system. The so-called ‘automation bias’, a large (almost exaggerated) trust in technology, gives AI systems a certain neutrality. The automation bias describes people’s tendency to prefer suggestions from automated decision-making systems.

As seductive as artificial intelligence is, in the long run it reduces one's own creative freedom and thus one's sense of responsibility. There is a change in the role structure, the machine decides, the human 'manages' the system. This reduces one's own power to act, the feeling of responsibility decreases.

„Artificial Intelligence won’t relieve us from thinking.”
_{- Univ.Prof.in Dr.in Sabine T. Köszegi, Professor of Labor Science and Organization, Institute of Management}

People tend to favor the path of least resistance. This leads us to outsource decisions-making to automated systems. However, this can lead to mistaken automated information overriding correct decisions. By following automated systems unquestioningly and encouraging people to think like machines, humans are worse prepared for a messy, chaotic and unpredictable future. However, humans offer much more than AI: The unique human skills like judgement, intuition, empathy, trust, critical thinking, abstract reasoning, integrating the context, evaluating norms and so on, help humans to take the right decisions according to the social context. It is therefore of utmost importance that man remains the only decision-maker: what is the aim, what is the context of the decision, what are the consequences?

Like once the French philosopher René Descartes encouraged people to doubt, this might be the premise of the 21^st century: to sharpen one's own perception and self-responsibility through critical questioning. 'I doubt, therefore I am', might be the principle for the 21^st century. Hence, the appropriate measure for good and correct action succeeds.

When participating our Executive MBA Innovation, Digitalization & Entrepreneurshipwith Univ.Prof.in Dr.in Sabine Köszegi you will dive into the world of new technologies: you will learn how to judge new paths in technology and read the digital roadmap for your organization. Participants learn how to detect the innovative potential and how to implement new creative paths and solutions in your organization at an early stage.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Sabine Köszegi is full Professor of Labor Science and Organization at the TU Wien and Academic Director of the MBA Program Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Her current research focus is on issues of social robotics and new ways of work.  She is chairing the Austrian Council on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and a member of the High-level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence of the European Commission

Key Facts about our program

• Final Degree: Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) | Innovation, Digitalization & Entrepreneurship
• Start: October 2023
• ECTS credits: 92
• Duration: 3 semesters + Master's Thesis
• Structure: Part-time, blocked in modules
• Language: English (with optional German modules)
• Tuition Fee: EUR 22,900 plus EUR 1,990 Registration fee (VAT-free, excl. expenses for travel and accommodation. Additional charges apply when participating in the international field study), TU Wien alumni club members receive a discount of 10%.
• Admission Requirements: First academic degree; 3 years of work experience; admission interview
• Locations: TU Wien, surrounding area of Vienna, possibility to complete a module abroad 
• Academic Director: Univ. Prof. Dr. Sabine Köszegi
• Program Manager: Mag. Vanessa Racz, Senior Program Manager, mba@tuwien.ac.at

>> Join our upcoming Info Session: Monday, June 5th 2023, 9.00 a.m., please register online. , opens an external URL in a new window