• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’

2

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

1

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’

2

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Brainstorm Design

A.I. Could Help Us Be More Human

By
Eamon Barrett
Eamon Barrett
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Eamon Barrett
Eamon Barrett
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 14, 2019, 8:24 PM ET

Maricel Cabahug, the chief design officer at German business software giant SAP, says her company likes to think of its A.I.-driven products and services as coworkers for SAP’s clients. But that paradigm has its issues.

“How do we make [an A.I. product] so it doesn’t compete with you?” Cabahug asked during Fortune’s Brainstorm Design conference in Singapore last week. The potential for robots to replace humans has already been realized on a large scale in the manufacturing sector, she said, and mundane white-collar jobs are likely targets for automation, too.

“Unlike a coworker you might train and who might one day be your boss, this coworker will never be better than you,” Cabahug assured conference attendees, whose companies might call such “coworkers” by another name: virtual assistants.

With that premise in mind, SAP developed a “smart” tool called Inscribe, which allows users to interact with SAP’s management software via a stylus and therefore natural handwriting. Through Inscribe, a person can scribble out columns in a spreadsheet, add notes to sections they find interesting, and hand-write directives to the algorithms running the software. Cabahug described the technology as a “conversational experience” because SAP’s A.I. responds to prompts from the stylus and feeds the user information.

Inscribe’s purpose, Cabahug said, is to help people be better at their job—not to do their job for them. Besides Inscribe, SAP’s solution to the problem of how humans interact with ever-advancing tech, the company also offers voice-activated solutions. “These types of interaction allow us to be more human,” Cabahug said.

That’s a similar sentiment to one that Tim Brown, CEO of design consultancy IDEO, expressed during the first day of Brainstorm Design. Brown remarked that A.I. could stand for “augmented” rather than “artificial” intelligence, because its purpose is to help humans achieve more than we could do alone.

Perhaps having a robotic co-worker won’t be so bad after all.

For more coverage of Fortune’s Brainstorm Design conference, click here.

About the Author
By Eamon Barrett
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

American Economist Robert Solow
EconomyProductivity
Employees using AI are working faster, but the economy isn’t more efficient. A look at what happened in the pre-Internet era might explain why
By Tristan BoveMay 27, 2026
54 minutes ago
man giving child keys to home
EconomyWealth
A study finds escaping your income bracket no longer means building wealth. That disconnect may be what’s driving consumer pessimism to record highs
By Jake AngeloMay 27, 2026
3 hours ago
The U.K.’s top spy says the window to stay ahead of China and Russia is narrowing and cybersecurity needs to become ‘10 times more urgent’
CybersecurityIntelligence
The U.K.’s top spy says the window to stay ahead of China and Russia is narrowing and cybersecurity needs to become ‘10 times more urgent’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 27, 2026
3 hours ago
Sanofi is building its own AI ecosystem to give the French pharma giant an edge
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
Sanofi is building its own AI ecosystem to give the French pharma giant an edge
By John KellMay 27, 2026
3 hours ago
crfb
Economynational debt
Interest on the national debt is eating a record 19% of federal revenue — and watchdog warns it will get worse
By Nick LichtenbergMay 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
EconomyWealth
Even if every California billionaire left tomorrow, it would take 25 years for the state to lose as much as it stands to gain from proposed wealth tax
By Tristan BoveMay 27, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
By Preston ForeMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
Travel & Leisure
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
By Catherina GioinoMay 25, 2026
2 days ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
6 days ago
Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it's worth it
AI
Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it's worth it
By Jake AngeloMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs
AI
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back their AI jobs apocalypse prophecies as they eye blockbuster IPOs
By Sasha RogelbergMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Techlash grows in education: 'My daughter went to middle school and was sent home with a screen addiction in her backpack'
North America
Techlash grows in education: 'My daughter went to middle school and was sent home with a screen addiction in her backpack'
By Jocelyn Gecker and The Associated PressMay 26, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.