If each decision must be driven by data, how will a firm create something for which there is no relevant data?

Renowned computer scientist Melanie Mitchell summarizes the trap that businesses fall prey to: “The race to commercialize AI has put enormous pressure on researchers to produce systems that work ‘well enough’ on narrow tasks.” Quantitative tools are powerful and exciting, but they can come to dominate a firm, keeping it focused on narrow tasks to the detriment of breakthrough innovation.