Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

by Ethan Mollick

We often take for granted the systems we use to structure and coordinate work in our organizations. We assume they are natural ways of getting things done. But in reality, they are historical artifacts, shaped by the technological and social conditions of their times. The organizational chart, for example, was originally made to run railroads in the 1850s. Developed by early railroad barons, they created a hierarchical system of authority, responsibility, and communication that enabled them to control and monitor the operations of their railroad empire. Enabled by the telegraph, they integrated humans into a clear hierarchy, with bosses giving orders that flowed through the rails and telegraph lines to the workers at the bottom of the chart. The system was so successful that it was soon adopted by other industries and organizations, becoming the standard model of bureaucracy for the twentieth century.