The Lisbon MBA participated in MIT’s event The Future of Work, a conference held in São Paulo that counted with MIT/MIT Sloan faculty with attendees from academia, business and government to discuss a range of topics including artificial intelligence, automation, and the changing economy.

In the technology-driven world that we live in, filled with promise but also challenges, the questions are:
-How can we shape and catalyze technological innovation to complement and augment human potential?
-How can our civic institutions ensure that the gains from the emerging innovations contribute to equality of opportunity, social inclusion, and shared prosperity?

During the conference, The Future of Work, organized by the MIT Sloan Latin America Office, these important questions, among others, were debated. Although the answers are still to be found, the importance relies on the fact we are fundamentally aware of these issues and that we need to work all together, the academic world, private corporations, public institutions… to make sure that, while technology will create wealth (more efficiency, more effectiveness, more progress), we ensure that it will also create welfare.
Regarding skills specifically,  apart from the importance of STEM, we need to work and develop other skills just (or even more) important, the EPOCH skills. This term was introduced by Prof. Roberto Rigobon, Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT, in his intervention at the conference.

EPOCH standing for:
E -Ethics and Judgement
P- Presence and Human Contact
O- Openness and Empathy
C- Creativity and Imagination
H- Hope

Leadership matters more than management, and whereas planning, budgeting, and organizing can be done by Artificial Intelligence,  establishing a vision, defining values, creating a culture, aligning people and motivating people requires people and people with EPOCH skills. So it is not a conflict between machines and humans, it is a complementarity of both. We need to work hand in hand, people working with machines, mutually learning to improve the world and to ensure progress for all.