Relationship Economics, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 6The Role of AI in Strategic Relationships

Through the power of AI, marketers are obtaining more significant customer insights and recommendations, manufacturers are predicting supply chain bottlenecks, and insurance companies are more accurately assessing risks. Thus, the market for enterprise AI is growing at 35 percent annually and is expected to reach nearly 53 billion by 2026.¹ In addition, jobs for AI specialists and data scientists (a precursor to AI) are up 74 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

Yet, how do you replace looking someone in the eye, shaking a hand, or feeling the warmth of an embrace, virtually? Sociologists and anthropologists tell us those are ways human beings gain a sense of belonging, feel that we matter, earn and lend trust, and move a relationship forward. And so many felt incredibly isolated during the pandemic because we couldn't do these things. So let's agree that virtual communication and social media platforms, as valuable as they have been in keeping us informed, are doing more to disengage and disconnect us than ever.

In this chapter, I will tackle how to build strategic relationships in the modern hyper-aware, always-on, digital, and highly predictive era. Equally important, I want to examine when and how automation, machine learning, and other advanced technologies might help or hurt our business relationships in several key aspects of its growth (Figure 6.1). Many believe AI isn't just a tool for pragmatic business decisions. ...