TECHNOLOGY
F or decades, the business landscape has been defined by the knowledge economy, an era where value was derived from accessing, mastering and applying pre‑existing truths. In this paradigm, expertise was synonymous with knowing what a ‘good’ output should look like because the underlying knowledge existed. However, as we navigate the mid- 2020s, this epistemological foundation has shifted. We are transitioning into a post-knowledge, innovation economy, where value no longer emerges from static expertise but through dynamic co-creation between humans and artificial intelligence (AI). Kent Business School’s AI for Business Accelerator is designed to operationalise this shift, acting as a vital bridge between academic theory and industrial application. We recognise that AI is not merely a technical upgrade or a tool for efficiency. Instead, it represents a paradigm shift in the very nature of intelligence and its role in value creation. Our vision is to prepare the next generation of leaders for a world where intelligence is symbiotic, growth is endogenous and human contribution is redefined by The nature of knowledge is changing, with sources suggesting that we are moving from a representational epistemology to a constructivist one. In the old model, humans discovered truths and translated them into valuable work. However, today’s AI-mediated interactions involve a non-deterministic rewriting of understanding, through which knowledge is becoming an emergent construction that arises only through dialogue and hybrid human-machine reasoning. This evolution can be understood through the lens of symbiogenesis, in which organisms merge to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Google vice-president and AI researcher Blaise Agüera y Arcas asserts that just as mitochondria once integrated into cells to provide a leap in both complexity and capacity, AI represents a major evolutionary transition for humanity. We are no longer individuals using tools; we are becoming part of a larger ‘cognitive superorganism’ that includes digital systems and AI infrastructure. originality rather than execution. Rethinking human value A common fear in the current discourse is that automation kills jobs. However, evidence suggests that when a task can be automated, it simply loses its
manual relevance within its specific technological context. The real impact of AI is the transition to an entirely new type of ‘endogenous innovation’ economy; this is an uncharted new landscape where ideas give rise to further ideas with sufficient velocity to trigger exponential, rather than just additive, growth. While previous technological revolutions focused on making production more efficient, AI is beginning to substitute for the most difficult aspect of labour: namely, the process of making technology itself better. The emergence of this self-innovating environment demands a fundamental rethink of human value. When machines can handle everything that is predictable and incremental, the only remaining value for humans is the completely novel and the uniquely original. We must move from being administrative forward-planners to becoming highly original thinkers and creative artists. To thrive in this co-evolutionary context, we must identify what remains irreplaceable in the human experience. For example, tacit knowledge, or the ability to know how to do something without being able to formalise it, like riding a bicycle, has frequently been put forward as such a uniquely human contribution. The reason for it is that while machine learning can automate tasks that previously resisted codification, it cannot replicate strong tacit knowledge rooted in lived experience, moral responsibility and contextual spontaneity. Another example for such uniquely human skills is the EPOCH framework identified in research from MIT Sloan, where empathy, presence, opinion, creativity and hope are representing core human capabilities that complement rather than substitute AI. High-EPOCH occupations are already experiencing significant growth, as these roles involve human- intensive tasks that machines cannot originate. At Kent Business School and the wider University of Kent, we teach our students that AI doesn’t make fundamentals obsolete; it makes them more important. Structured reasoning, clarity of thinking and the ability to decompose problems analytically are now quintessential characteristics for creating new value together with our machine partners. Building a skills portfolio The AI for Business Accelerator at Kent is, therefore, our concrete response to these transformations. Designed to build both technical and meta-cognitive skills, it is structured into the following four, logically linked modules:
Business Impact • ISSUE 1 • 2026
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