INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-14-2025 17:30
    Edited by Garrett Johnston 08-15-2025 11:55

    Can traditional optimization and modern AI truly work together—or are we still treating them as separate worlds? 

    As an author of “QuantumBlack’s Hybrid Approach to Operations Research in the Age of AI,” I believe the future of decision-making lies in blending the rigor of operations research with the adaptability of AI. This hybrid intelligence approach is already reshaping industries—from manufacturing and healthcare to retail and supply chains. 

    But integrating these disciplines isn’t just about tools—it’s about mindset. It requires new ways of thinking, new skill sets, and a willingness to rethink how we frame and solve problems. 

    I’d love to hear your thoughts: 

    • What does hybrid intelligence mean to you in your work? 

    • Have you seen OR and AI complement each other—or compete? 

    • What challenges do you face when trying to integrate these approaches?

    ------------------------------
    Alex Cosmas
    Senior Partner
    QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey
    New York
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-16-2025 10:51

    Hi Alex,

    I've seen some value when combining optimization and AI rather then keeping them separate. The structure of OR ensures robust models for decision-making, while AI adds flexibility in unstructured data processing or scaling insights quickly. In practice, both often complement each other. Challenges I encounter are partly cultural (convincing people to adopt and trust hybrid approaches) and partly technical, in the sense of enabling them with the right tools and skills to use methods effectively. 

    Best,

    Philipp



    ------------------------------
    Philipp Ahrens
    Lead Consultant Advanced Analytics
    TD Reply
    Berlin
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-16-2025 19:32

    Would you please provide specific examples of "value when combining optimization and AI rather than keeping them separate"?

    Would you specifically demonstrate what AI could do that the structured OR/MS could not? How specifically does AI help "scaling insights quickly"?

    Thanks for your insight.



    ------------------------------
    Alexander Kolker
    ge healthcare
    MILWAUKEE WI
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-19-2025 11:48

    I am still waiting for the specific answers to my questions from the posters Alex Cosmas and Philipp Ahrens. I scanned the link to the material "QuantumBlack's Hybrid Approach...". Unfortunately, I have not seen anything specific in this material but buzzwords and unsubstantiated claims.



    ------------------------------
    Alexander Kolker
    ge healthcare
    MILWAUKEE WI
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-25-2025 11:43

    Hello Alexander,

    I have reached out to the authors of this article to see if they would like to respond to your question. 

    Thank you for your patience!

    Garrett



    ------------------------------
    Garrett Johnston
    Membership Engagement Coordinator
    gjohnston@informs.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-25-2025 13:07

    Garrett, thank you for your initiative to reach out to the authors to see if they'd like to respond. At the same time, I believe that the authors were supposed to respond to questions on their posts without the third-party intermediary. At this time, I have no choice but to assume that the purpose of the posts was pure hype and hollow marketing, which is quite typical nowadays. To me, the credibility of the authors is next to zero.

    Thanks to you, nonetheless.



    ------------------------------
    Alexander Kolker
    ge healthcare
    MILWAUKEE WI
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: What Does Hybrid Intelligence Mean to You?

    Posted 08-18-2025 06:51
    Edited by Rahul Saxena 08-18-2025 06:56

    What does hybrid intelligence mean to you in your work? 

    In my work at RevInsight, hybrid intelligence is represented and constructed in a "System of Systems":

    • Decision Intelligence Agents: workflows with nodes that can be an algorithm/bot (OR, Stats, ML, Rules Engines, NLP, integration, etc.), a human in the loop decision (Decision Guides), a human in the loop task (Task Guides), or an integration to a 3rd-party bot (e.g., call Zapier, UIpath, etc.).
    • Data Intelligence Agents: workflows that build and run data pipelines, update data warehouses, and mine signals using semantic models. Signals can be exposed in data visualizations (we see a blip but we don't know how to leverage it) or launch a decision-intelligence agent (we see a decision opportunity that we can leverage). 
    • Interaction Intelligence Agents: compose a "personal assistant" UX across multiple channels (chat, browser, email, voice, etc.) with each interaction created by an LLM supported and constrained by the semantic models.

    Have you seen OR and AI complement each other-or compete? 

    • In practice, they are complementary.
    • In the RevInsight "System of Systems" architecture they are complementary and cleanly partitioned.
    • In the market, LLMs are heavily positioned as the "ultimate intelligence" that renders OR, ML, etc. as obsolete. This perception is widespread and so there are many "Agentic AI" companies that offer LLM-based intelligence and glibly promise that the LLM will provide the right recommendations.



    ------------------------------
    Rahul Saxena
    RevInsight.com
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    Original Message


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