Page 46 - Plastics News Issue September2025
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FEATURE NEWS
sist in idea evaluation, support idea refinement The authors found AI to be less helpful as a tool
and facilitate collaboration among users.” for making incremental innovations or making
small improvements to existing products. And
The article illustrates, with generated images they found that AI “is almost no help at all for
and generated narrative, how these AI tools can radical innovation.”
take in a simple prompt and output a wide, un-
expected variety of new possibilities. The tools The authors pose four questions to help compa-
also are valuable for their ability to create sur- nies decide if AI can be helpful to them in their
prising output by combining images or rework- innovation efforts:
ing passages of text. And AI can be asked to
evaluate ideas, for example, to assess the nov- ♦ Are you a fast follower? Using AI can help
elty, feasibility or impact of an idea. “Generative improve upon existing products and cre-
AI’s greatest potential is not replacing humans;” ate new products by recombining elements
write the Harvard Business Review authors, “it from prior successes. Advanced data capa-
is to assist humans in their individual and collec- bilities will likely help, as a company can use
tive efforts to create hitherto unimaginable solu- AI to amplify existing abilities in a new way.
tions.” ♦ Are you struggling with a deluge of data?
While many researchers have deep exper-
2. Artificial Intelligence Can Supercharge
Data Analysis and Product/Service Innova- tise in one or two areas, emerging data tech-
tion nologies can help find technology elements
from wide and distant fields. Broad synthesis
Artificial intelligence is not a fix for every prob- is critical for these firms to combine these
lem; it is a tool that should be applied where it technologies to solve problems in their own
is most suitable. In “Can AI Help Your Company domain.
Innovate? It Depends,” 3 Authors Lynn Wu and ♦ Are you overwhelmed with choices? To suc-
Sam Ransbotham, discuss their research into ceed, a company needs to invest in AI pro-
how companies use AI for innovation and their jects that support recombination and hire AI
finding that success in implementing AI depends talents to assess those suggested combina-
upon how AI is used. “We researched how com- tions. Companies don’t need to retrain or
panies are using AI for innovation and found hire scientists with AI skills, but do need to
that tools are just tools – success depends on hire AI talents to support scientific efforts.
how organizations use these new tools now at
their disposal,” the authors write. “The results of ♦ Do you depend on radical innovation? Using
these studies suggest that firms that have his- AI won’t likely directly benefit innovation ef-
torically focused on specific types of innovation forts. However, using AI can lead to great-
– process innovation and innovation by diverse er follow-up projects once a company has
recombination, in which companies combine made that radical first step.3. AI Can Improve
a wide variety of technology elements in new Operations
ways – may benefit most from using advanced
data capabilities of machine learning and AI.” While AI is a go-to tool for creating new content,
46 PLASTICS NEWS September 2025
