Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 3, Year 2023 by Romanian Distribution Committee

Editorial: Observing and Accepting the Challenge of Managing Continuous Disruption, Focusing on Resilience, Adaptation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

In July 2020 we made reference to “these times of interminable unpredictability” (Purcarea, 2020). In August 2021 two distinguished representatives of the National Institute for Economic Research, Romanian Academy wrote about “the sea of uncertainties impossible to discern”, underlining that “The big changes we have to face are big challenges rather than opportunities. In this equation there is no equality of terms, because it will always be said that for challenges there is not enough money to meet them, and for opportunities we do not have the skills to value them when they deserve it” (Pop and Ioan-Franc, 2021).

Last year we wrote about “From Overcoming Adaptability Paradox to A New Dimension of Performance” (Purcarea a, 2022), and “Lessons to Learn in Adapting to Market Uncertainty. Limitation of Perspective, Balance of Feedback, and Experimenting Along the Way” (Purcarea b, 2022). As we reminded at the end of 2017 (Purcarea, 2017): in September 2011 we raised the question (Purcarea, 2011) if we are really ready to create the “thick value” (as described by Umair Haque in his book “The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business”) and to use this source of next-level advantage which is “loss advantage”; a month later, in October 2011, W. BrianArthur an economist and technology thinker and a pioneer in the science of complexity, brought to our attention in McKinsey Quarterly the evolution of the vast, automatic, and invisible “second economy” created by the digitization (an economy of the digitized business processes, an economy being silently formed alongside the physical economy and surpassing the physical economy in size in two to three decades), arguing that the main challenge of the economy within this context is shifting from producing prosperity to distributing prosperity, also confessing his surprise in relation with the accuracy of the predictions made by Keynes in his famous essay from 1930 - “Economic possibilities for our grandchildren”. Very recently, W. BrianArthur made again reference to Keynes.

On August 1, 2023, McKinsey Quarterly challenged the readers with a new episode of “Provocations to Ponder”, bringing to our attention an interview (Tetzeli a, 2023) with the above-mentioned influential economist in Silicon Valley, W. Brian Arthur, the reputed author of two books: “The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves” (Free Press, 2009, 246 pp.), and “Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy” (The University of Michigan Press, 15 Dec. 1994). The discussion between McKinsey Quarterly editorial director Rick Tetzeli and W. Brian Arthur covered a large area, starting from the emphasis made by Tetzeli regarding the general feeling of being already entered a period of great uncertainty.

And as “fundamental uncertainty is an expression economists use” – the interviewee showing that this was described by Keynes already in 1937 – W. BrianArthur underlined from the very beginning that resilience (understood as “the capacity to respond, the ability to react appropriately, to deal with things, and even to do quite well”) it is needed when you really do not know what will follow as the consequence of this uncertainty, having no trust in a stable and solid foundation, stability being all that matters in such an uncertain world where “the disruptions are coming thick and fast, and we don’t know what will show up next…” Speaking about major disruptions W. BrianArthur highlighted among other aspects that: “Generative AI will alter how the economy itself works: it will alter existing industries and bring in new ones. But how that will happen is uncertain… In an uncertain world, optimization is even more iffy… Adaptation means having a tool kit of backup preparedness: people, plans, responses, ideas, possibilities, attitudes, and equipment that allow you to construct solutions quickly… Tech companies are always operating under uncertainty. Working with the unknown is standard in tech… Adaptation requires a mindset that deals with uncertainty. That’s not a mindset so much of seeking ever-increasing profits and growth; it’s a mindset, at least in the extreme, of survival. And it’s a mindset of being prepared to let go of dearly held, constricting beliefs… Confusion forces you to think of a new version of your project or of your organization or even of yourself. Often, confusion remakes things or even remakes us.”

In a previous episode of McKinsey Quarterly Interview, the same editorial director (Tetzeli b, 2023) interviewed another renowned economist, the Dean of Haas School of Business (University of California, Berkeley), Ann Harrison (a former Director of Development policy at the World Bank). To Tetzeli question about students’preparation taking into consideration the global uncertainty – at the same time as a combination of short-term events (COVID-19 pandemic, for instance), and long-term shifts (climate change, for example) – Harrison answered as follows: “In part, through a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are constantly failing and picking themselves up and starting all over again refocusing their products, constantly shifting. That culture of living with uncertainty of the need to continue to innovate until you find the right market fit, until you can scale is something inherent to entrepreneurship culture.”

According to Vaz (2023), it is critical for a business to develop its muscle of continuous change being digital in a very complete way, and enabled to identify and realize value by five

capabilities: strategy (in line with its purpose driving longevity, as shown in figure below), product (developing gradually new products and services – a single step in walking), experience (creating value for customers throughout their entire journey), engineering (delivering on its promise both at pace, and at scale, based on architecture, ways of working and talent) and data (validating its hypotheses and finding insights for constant iteration, based on: useful data, data science andAI, designing for data, and ethics). In case of data science andAI there is a four-step approach, as shown in next figure below.

Source: Adaptation from Vaz, N., 2023. How to Develop Your Business’s Muscle of Continuous Change, Publicis Sapient (work cited)

Source: Vaz, N., 2023. How to Develop Your Business’s Muscle of Continuous Change, Publicis Sapient (work cited)

Figure no. 1: Strategy (the capability that connects the business’s purpose directly to the solutions it can create in customers’ lives) Figure no. 2: The data science team partners with other capabilities to take the understanding of the customer, in any given use case, from conscious incompetence to conscious competence. Then, AI will take this to unconscious competence, which creates a generative loop where each capability reinforces the other

As confirmed by Twilio Segment (2023), there is a clear need today to focus on data agility, as well as on omnichannel engagement (unifying customer’s touchpoints across all platforms and channels), and data privacy (keeping up and ensuring compliance with the regulations), making on this basis more informed decisions and building high-quality personalized experiences. It is very important to take into account both the importance of digital agility (understood as “the ability of an organization to rapidly change, adapt, or pivot their teams and processes”), keeping up with and anticipate change (while driving innovation), and that mainly in a post-cookie world the future for customer relationships is given by first-party data.

On the other hand, it is very important to understand that in order to be successful digital transformation (which is considered critical to survive and compete, being seen as “the rewiring of an organization, with the goal of creating value by continuously deploying tech at scale”) organizational leaders need to align all organization around a program based on key performance indicators (targeting value creation, team health, and change-management progress), being clear about what they understand by digital and AI transformation, as shown in figure below by McKinsey & Company (2023).

Recent research on digital transformation revealed that in driving digital transformation it is very important to consider the synergy of awareness, motivational, and capability drivers. Within this framework, Nguyen et al. (2023) demonstrating that: “the effect of organizational flexibility on digital transformation is highest when digital proactiveness and change commitment are both at a high level”.

Allow us finally to express the idea that in managing continuous disruption while driving digital transformation it is important to be proactive and a careful planner (paraphrasing Alexa Von Tobel, Founder and Managing partner of Inspired Capital), having a proactive agenda that contributes not only to problem solving, but also to the avoidance of problems (paraphrasing

Figure no. 3: What we mean by digital and AI transformation Source: McKinsey & Company, 2023. What is digital transformation? [pdf] McKinsey Explainers, June 2023, p. 2 (work cited)

OECD proactive agenda added as a new prospective dimension in the 2011 update – within responsible business conduct of multinational enterprises).

Theodor Valentin Purcărea Editor-in-Chief

References

McKinsey & Company, 2023. What is digital transformation? [pdf] McKinsey Explainers, June 2023, pp. 1-6. Available at: <what-is-digital-transformation> [Accessed 27 July 2023].

Nguyen, K., Broekhuizen, T., Dong, J.Q., Verhoef, P.C., 2023. Leveraging Synergy to Drive Digital Transformation: A Systems-Theoretic Perspective, Information & Management, Volume 60, Issue 7, Available online 27 July 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2023.103836.

Pop, N., Ioan-Franc, V., 2021. Reputația și credibilitatea băncilor centrale derivă din independența lor, Mențiuni și opinii, ResearchGate, August 2021, pp. 41-45. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355094712_Reputatia_si_credibilitatea_bancilor_cent rale_deriva_din_independenta_lor > [Accessed 8 October 2021].

Purcarea, T., 2020. To Make the First Step in the Necessary New Journey, Harmonizing Efficiency and Resiliency… and Not Only, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 11(2), pp. 10-14, July.

Purcarea, T., 2022. From Overcoming Adaptability Paradox to A New Dimension of Performance, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 13(3), pp. 10-15, October.

Purcarea, T., 2022. Lessons to Learn in Adapting to Market Uncertainty. Limitation of Perspective, Balance of Feedback, and Experimenting Along the Way, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 13(4), pp. 10-16, December.

Purcarea, T., 2017. From Keynes’s Predictions to the Second Economy and Chief Wellbeing Officer, Adequately Managing the New Distributive Era, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 8(4), pp. 12-13, December.

Purcarea, T., 2011. From the challenge of ensuring the interface with the structure of capitalist economy to doing meaningful stuff that matters the most, to people, society, and the future, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 2(3), pp. 1-6, September.

Tetzeli, R., 2023. ‘Crossing the river by feeling the stones’, McKinsey Quarterly, The Quarterly Interview: Provocations to Ponder, August 1, 2023. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/crossing-the-river-byfeeling-the-stones?> [Accessed 4 August 2023].

Tetzeli, R., 2023. ‘Confidence without attitude is critical for today’s leaders’. [pdf] McKinsey Quarterly, The Quarterly Interview: Provocations to Ponder, April 2023, pp. 1, 3. Available at: <confidence-without-attitude-is-critical-for-todays-leaders> [Accessed 4 August 2023].

Twilio Segment, 2023. 5 Trends That Are Changing Customer Engagement. [pdf] Twilio, 01.14.23, pp. 2, 5, 12, 14-16. Available at: <TS-Brand-Ebook-5 Trends That Are Changing Customer Engagement> [Accessed 5 August 2023].

Vaz, N., 2023. How to Develop Your Business’s Muscle of Continuous Change, Publicis Sapient, Our Insights, August 3, 2023. [online] Available at: <https://www.publicissapient.com/insights/how-to-develop-your-business-muscle-ofcontinuous-change?> [Accessed 18 August 2023].

Using Information and Communications Technology Advances to Leverage the Search of the World New Balance with Less Resources -Part 3-

Abstract

The paper analyses the context of World dramatical crises, which is facing unprecedented phases of global warming, Earth resources fading, social unbalances or geopolitical crises. Practically, if we obviously could not prevent and avoid all this “flood” of emerging consequences and disasters, we should use all human and technological resources and potential in order to find updated ways to reduce their impact on Earth and humankind present and future, including information and communication technology (ICT) advances like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things etc. The role of ICT in the Information Society (IS) on the way towards the Knowledge Based Society (KBS) is largely recognized, but this, naturally, should be updated by the appropriate refined knowledge and solutions/applications, oriented for the dynamic World context changes/crises. Although AI actually is dramatically influencing a large range of IS/KBS domains, perhaps inside ICT areas the impact could be crucial, adding then major implications in all Earth zones where ICT products, applications and services have global penetration, as we analysed for some examples. First, the approach of AI on global industries seems to have similarities with ICT models, where terms of infrastructure, message or personalization could suggest the specific benefits of AI, but more than these, a further integration is needed for different scenarios (customer employee and infrastructure focused). A more concrete approach/example, belonging to the prestigious organization of IEEE (World larger organization of professionals), is pointing the crucial role of engineers in this global striving against „all odds”, even by pointing some crucial areas of human needs, like water, energy or sustainable farming. Further, we have analysed some trends in ICT to discover the efficient innovation that could prevent or minimize (if not avoid) the consequences of actual or future World crises, which are, in realistic expression, caused by the unprecedented high level of complexity, incertitude and critical unbalances the Earth ecosystem and humankind evolution reached. This way, identifying such hidden links, between visible events/trends and potential critical evolutions could be a first, but essential, step in preventing and also in finding appropriate innovation approaches. Along with the complex problem of Digital transformation, crucial for all business context, it was confirmed the subtle approach of ICT models (to learn from), which provide success (as network infrastructures, applications and services) at Earth scale, due to the methods and algorithms used (to measure and analyse) before any implementation/investment phase. Another example/project, pointed some directions for AI/ML development, but it is confirming that an essential feature of ICT development, oriented for approaching the challenges of World crises, Earth ecosystem and even humankind (species) evolution, is the proper refining of knowledge, as crucial field of research and optimization for identifying factors that determine uncertainty. We think that such targets are extremely difficult in the complex, complicate but also very dynamic Earth ecosystem context, leading to the idea that timely and deeper analyses should be continued, along with the innovation approaches efforts which are needed at all levels of IS/KBS, in order to leverage the proper refined knowledge and stimulate all factors to follow the rational actions, before it is too late

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Telcos, Network experience, Sustainable farming, Machine learning, Digital transformation, Knowledge based society, Uncertainty

JEL Classification: L63; L86; M15; O31; O33

Prof. Eng. Ph.D. Victor GREU

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” (Socrates)

1. ICT is searching updated development optimization solutions in the World’s changing context

Watching the dramatic changes of the World context, people would ask sometimes if it is the case of just wondering or rather acting when seeing everyday news?

Some of us will probably say that, anyway, it is better to think and deeply think, beyond today picture, about present, past and future, before any other options.

We also agree that, among the general options, we should consider several approaches: Expecting so much from history lessons, people’s reasoning and technologies potential is the answer? Or a better and democratic advising of incumbents’ decisions? Perhaps we should understand that, today more than traditionally, there are more and more questions than answers

Recallingjustfewoftherecentshockingnews,weshouldnaturallyask:Howtoprevent and combat disasters like Canadian, Greece and Hawaii fires, Russia barbarian aggression and huge destructions in Ukraine (with international resources/food consequences) or even the Frankfurt instant flood in august 2023?

As we already approached [3][11], the optimization of the World ecosystem, facing unprecedented phases of global warming, Earth resources fading, social unbalances or geopolitical crises, is unlikely possible, even if we strive to use all human and technological potential, including information and communication technology (ICT) advances like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things etc.

Consequently, the realistic approach is, of course, to integrate all relevant information, to refine knowledge and to imagine ways to minimize the consequences of the dramatical evolutions.

With simple words, if we obviously could not prevent and avoid all this “flood” of emerging consequences and disasters, we should use all human and technological resources and potential in order to find updated ways to reduce their impact on Earth and humankind present and future [7][8][10][14][6][9][15][17][18].

Coming back to where people are “expecting so much from”, the role of ICT in the Information Society (IS) on the way towards the Knowledge Based Society (KBS) is largely recognized, but this, naturally, should be updated by the appropriate refined knowledge and solutions/applications, oriented for the dynamic World context changes/crises we already have partially mentioned [3][16][19].

This way, one of the main purposes of ICT could be to enable the complex knowledge refining processes, linking and empowering all humankind potential of reasoning and research, having the Earth ecosystem survival as global aim and using ICT advances, like AI, to provide the speed and efficiency requested by the critical/ultimate urgency we are in, if we want to avoid no-return phases of World decline [6][9][11].

It is still clear that the paramount importance of such global target does not automatically simplify the huge complications of making it possible and fast, but we all could least timely analyse, at different levels, the best solutions to be integrated/oriented in this direction with the appropriate timing and strategies.

Witnessing the ICT impressing evolutions of the last decades, we could also try to lend from its potential, lessons and algorithms to realize innovations and breakthroughs in order to leverage the huge planetary efforts for these targets, either by technology or education/knowledge means [20][21].

Undoubtedly, it is not simple to identify the right ICT development/targets, but this should be one of the priorities of analyses to be timely done, as we further intend, by some relevant examples.

“Artificial intelligence, when deployed at scale, can help telcos protect core revenues and drive margin growth. But capturing this opportunity will require a wholly different approach. Artificial intelligence (AI) is unlocking use cases that are transforming industries across a wide swath of the world’s economy. From infrastructure that “self-heals” to radically reimagined (and touchless) customer service and experience; from large scale hyperpersonalization to automatically created marketing messages and images leveraging. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT it is all a reality today. These AI solutions can powerfully augment and sometimes radically outperform most traditional business roles.”

We have to notice the approach of AI on global industries by the similarity with ICT models, where terms of infrastructure, message or personalization could suggest the specific benefits of AI, but more than these, a further integration is needed for different scenarios:

„While isolated applications of the technology can help individual departments improve, it’s AI connected holistically at all levels and departments that will be key to protecting core revenue and driving margin growth in even the most difficult of environments. Imagine the following not-sodistant scenarios:

Customer focused: Sarah, a New Yorker, is a high average revenue per user (ARPU) customer. Aware that Sarah spends half of her phone usage time on fitness apps, the AI creates an enticing customized upgrade offer that includes a six-month credit applicable to her favorite fitness subscription and NYCspecific perks, such as a ticket to an upcoming concert sponsored by the operator... „

Although, naturally, the focus starts with the customer approach, the challenges on labour market are also considered:

„Employee focused: When Trevor, an associate in a telco mall store, logs in at the start of his shift, he receives a celebratory notification congratulating him on his high-quality interactions with customers the previous day. And because the AI detected that Trevor is underperforming peers in accessory and device protection attach rates, he receives a notification pointing him to coaching resources specifically created to enhance performance in those metrics...”

Last, but not the least, the infrastructure optimization could benefit from AI implementation, by correlating network experience scores with dynamic investments decisions:

„Infrastructure focused: Lucile, director of a capital planning team, uses AI to inform highly targeted network investment decisions based on a granular understanding of customerlevel network experience scores strongly correlated to commercial outcomes (for example, churn). The AI provides tactical recommendations of what and where to build based on where customers use the network and on automatically computed thresholds after which new investments have marginal impact on experience and commercial outcomes for the operator.”

„THE INSTITUTE Earth is in a nerve-wracking phase. Global warming is a major topic and humans are starting to see the effects, like extreme weather events. In 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Caribbean communities and left millions of people without power and shelter for months. Humans are searching for ways to fix the damage being done to our environment, and engineers are making major strides towards this goal. Below are three ways engineers are improving the planet.”

Before analysing the three proposed areas/ideas, it is worth to observe the source of these ideas, belonging to the prestigious organization of IEEE (World largest organization of professionals) and pointing the crucial role of (ICT) engineers in this global striving against „all odds”, even by pointing some simple, but crucial, areas of human needs, like water, energy or farming:

„Cleanwaterisnotaccessibletoeveryone.AccordingtotheWorldHealthOrganization (WHO), 785 million people did not have access to a basic clean drinking water service in 2017. Engineers are creating technology that will bring clean water to those who need. The Warka Tower, for instance, is a 10-meter tower designed to collect and harvest potable water from the air, generate electrical energy from sunlight and even sustain a modular edible garden through an integrated irrigation system. The tower, built with biodegradable and recyclable materials, works through gravity, condensation and evaporation without the need for external power. Eventually, similar towers could provide clean water to any town that needs it. Engineers are also working on implementing smart technology to track the health of water pumps. When a pump isn't working, an alert is sent via smartphone app so that engineers can fix it quickly. In the absence an alert system, water pumps can go months without being serviced.”

It is worth to notice that not only water, but all materials, including pomps and service, have benefits from this autonomic ecological high-tech approach (an integrated irrigation system). A further sustainable approach covers the long expected clean energy, as it is further presented:

„No matter what form it comes in, solar, wind or water, the world needs to move toward clean energy harvesting. Engineers are bringing clean energy to the forefront with inventions like solar panels, wind turbines and hydropumps. Engineers have also created grid-tie systems to go hand in hand with clean energy generation. Grid-tie systems allow consumers who harvest their own clean energy to sell the extra energy they produce to utility companies. This energy can then be used by consumers who don't generate their own energy, creating a collaborative strategy that benefits a whole community.”

Combining the basics (air, water, energy) with ICT/AI advances, a World sustainability target could be approached, as automation is one step towards smart farming (oriented to sustainable farming):

„As the world's population grows, producing sufficient food is becoming increasingly difficult. Engineers are working to find solutions to avert worldwide food shortages. One strategy is to implement sustainable farming, which comes in many forms. Hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic farming were all developed by engineers to make it easier to grow food. All three types allow food to be grown in an indoor environment, increasing the amount produced. Engineers are also creating smart farms that use technology to streamline and improve farming. Automation is one step towards smart farming; it opens the potential to speed up the farming process and eliminate human error. From tillers to sorting machines to tractors, almost every farming machine can be automated. Smart farms can also employ drones to plant seeds, spray crops and keep real-time analysis of fields. In sum, engineers are trying to help

humanity, from sustainable farming to clean energy to clean water. They are working on making the Earth a better place for everyone, now and into the future.”

In this case, we observe the increasing potential of drones, supported by ICT advances and all optimization features provided in this huge domain of human activity (farming), but it is also important to recall the crucial role of engineers – a pillar for the expected innovation approaches expected to save the Earth.

This way we have just emphasised (the tip of an iceberg!) the innovation approaches such links could offer for ICT and further for expected benefits in all IS/KBS challenging areas of present and future World.

2. Learning again from ICT lessons

As many times before, we have used the tip of an iceberg metaphor in order to suggest the hidden existence of something that could mean much more than we actually perceive it [24][26].

In fact, this usual and old situation (Deja vu) could have a crucial relevance in the striving efforts of ICT (and beyond) to discover the efficient innovation that could prevent or minimize(ifnot avoid)theconsequences ofactual orfutureWorldcrises, whichare,in realistic expression, caused by the unprecedented high level of complexity, incertitude and critical unbalances the Earth ecosystem and humankind evolution reached.

This way, identifying such hidden links, between visible events/trends and potential critical evolutions could be a first, but essential, step in preventing crises and also in finding appropriate innovation approaches.

Although it is not very evident, such way of thinking could be extrapolated in order to benefit from similar experiences we could learn inside ICT development evolutions, recalling the remarkable potential of ICT advances to export from their mechanisms of progress and optimization toward other IS/KBS domains [23][24][25].

Still, ICT should provide, with priority, instruments and solutions to respond at the economy and IS/KBS challenges, confronted with general uncertainty of the business context of World crises, but in the same time with the necessity of adapting to the mandatory changes required by the digital transformation, as it is also presented by [4]:

<< “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This quote could not find better applicability than in today’s hyperconverged hybrid networks, evolving applications, and service infrastructures. Digital transformation is the essence of these rapidly evolving ecosystems and key to competitiveness for most enterprises today. Success and agility in such environments depend on the ability to measure and analyse how distributed, disaggregated network infrastructures, applications and services perform before going live, as well as during their production life cycle.>>

Here, along with the complex problem of Digital transformation, crucial for all business context, we notice again the subtle approach of ICT models (to learn from), which provide success (as network infrastructures, applications and services) at Earth scale, due to the methods and algorithms used (to measure and analyse) before any implementation/investment phase:

“Enterprises scarcely perform testing and validation, and usually do so before or immediately after the introduction of a network architecture, device, or service. Almost no testing occurs after the fact. This incomplete testing leaves doubts, uncertainty, and blind spots

when it comes to performance and scale limits and potentially broken functionality, misconfigurations and security gaps. Nobody wants to face these issues deep in production phases and pay the price to fix them. Past research shows that early discovery of issues provides massive savings, with some finding that bugs discovered in development are 90 to 100 times less expensive to fix than when found in maintenance.”

Fortunately, the academic world is also implied in the mentioned global effort, complementing the ICT advances in spectacular ways of identifying the above desired links and innovations in the complicate landscape of the World challenges.

The next example/project, developed at the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute,isrelevant, not only becausetheproject is alsolinkedwith actualdefence requirements, but because it is pointing one of the subtle innovation approaches of ICT advances: Knowing When You Don’t Know. [5]:

“The DoD increasingly deploys artificial intelligence (AI) systems to perform missioncritical tasks. The backbone of many of these AI systems consists of machine learning (ML) models that make predictions about their environment. Unfortunately, even state-of-the-art ML models can make inaccurate inferences in scenarios that involve uncertainty. Many common models do not accurately estimate uncertainty for their predictions. This can produce incorrect results; worse, it makes it harder to predict when ML systems will be wrong.”

Further, in a straightforward manner, the solution for such complex and complicate kinds of problems is pointed in practical approaching ways:

“

To solve this problem, ML systems must be able to quantify, reason about, and rectify uncertainty in their predictions. This project will benchmark methods for quantifying uncertainty. It will also create techniques to identify changes in deployment environments that cause uncertainty. Finally, it will develop methodologies, tools, and best practices for rectifying the causes of uncertainty in models that become uncertain. This work will improve the robustness, reliability, and maintainability of ML systems.”

Here the main idea is not only to point some directions for AI/ML development, but it is confirming, as we also presented [26], that an essential feature of ICT development, in the general IS/KBS context, oriented for efficacy and efficiency when approaching the challenges of World crises, Earth ecosystem and even humankind (species) evolution, is the properly refining of knowledge (be able to quantify, reason about, and rectify uncertainty).

We also consider that a crucial field of research and optimization, ICT could leverage, is create techniques to identify changes in deployment environments that cause uncertainty, i.e., to combat and mitigate one of the toughest challenges of World crises.

It is sure that such targets are extremely difficult in the complex, complicate but also very dynamic Earth ecosystem context, leading to the conclusion that timely and deeper analyses should be continued, along with the innovation approaches efforts which are needed at all levels of IS/KBS, in order to leverage the proper refined knowledge and stimulate all factors to follow the rational actions, before it is too late.

3. Conclusions

The optimization of the World ecosystem, facing unprecedented phases of global warming, Earth resources fading, social unbalances or geopolitical crises, is unlikely possible, even if we strive to use all human and technological potential, including information and communication technology (ICT) advances like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things etc. Consequently, the realistic approach is, of course, to integrate all relevant information, to refine knowledge and to imagine ways to minimize the consequences of the dramatical evolutions.Practically,if weobviouslycouldnotpreventandavoid allthis“flood”ofemerging

consequences and disasters, we should use all human and technological resources and potential inordertofindupdatedwaystoreducetheirimpact onEarthandhumankindpresentandfuture.

The fact that people are “expecting so much from” the role of ICT in the Information Society (IS) on the way towards the Knowledge Based Society (KBS) is largely recognized, but this, naturally, should be updated by the appropriate refined knowledge and solutions/applications, oriented for the dynamic World context changes/crises we already have partially mentioned.

The real major challenges still continue to come and extend, along with events, dangers and disasters which are caused by the accumulation of complex factors/situations, generated mainly by humankind and unfortunately unlikely to be completely discontinued without a global understanding and action towards enabling radical decisions from incumbents. This way, one of the main purposes of ICT could be to enable the complex knowledge refining processes, linking and empowering all humankind potential of reasoning and research, having the Earth ecosystem survival as global aim and using ICT advances, like AI, to provide the speed and efficiency requested by the critical/ultimate urgency we are in, if we want to avoid no-return phases of World decline.

The paramount importance of such global target does not automatically simplify the huge complications of making it possible and fast, but we all could least timely analyse, at different levels, thebest solutions tobeintegrated/orientedin thisdirectionwith theappropriate timing and strategies.

It is not simple to identify the right ICT development/targets, but this should be one of the priorities of analyses to be timely done, as we intended, by some relevant examples.

Although artificial intelligence (AI) actually is dramatically influencing a large range of IS/KBS domains, perhaps inside ICT areas the impact could be crucial, adding major implications in all Earth zones where ICT products, applications and services have global penetration, as it is also detailed presented by [1]. Here, the approach of AI on global industries seems to have similarities with ICT models, where terms of infrastructure, message or personalization could suggest the specific benefits of AI, but more than these, a further integration is needed for different scenarios (customer, employee and infrastructure focused).

A more concrete approach/example, aiming some of the above large objectives of the World challenging context, is approaching the hardest problems (global warming, Earth resources fading), is belonging to the prestigious organization of IEEE (World largest organization of professionals) and is pointing the crucial role of (ICT) engineers in this global striving against „all odds”, even by pointing some simple, but crucial, areas of human needs, like water, energy or farming.Combining thebasics (air,water,energy)with ICT/AIadvances, a World sustainability target could be approached, as automation is one step towards smart farming (oriented to sustainable farming). From this case, we observe the increasing potential of drones, supported by ICT advances and all optimization features provided in this huge domain of human activity (farming), but it is also important to recall the crucial role of engineers – a pillar for the expected innovation approaches expected to save the Earth.

Finally, we can notice the essential link between the first example, pointing ICT advances with AI and its huge potential to impact concrete actual challenging areas, just by leveraging with new features even older areas/ideas like those from the second example. This way we have just emphasised (the tip of an iceberg!) the innovation approaches such links could offer for ICT and further for expected benefits in all IS/KBS challenging areas of present and future World.

Further, we have analysed some trends in ICT to discover the efficient innovation that could prevent or minimize (if not avoid) the consequences of actual or future World crises, which are, in realistic expression, caused by the unprecedented high level of complexity, incertitude and critical unbalances the Earth ecosystem and humankind evolution reached. This way, identifying such hidden links, between visible events/trends and potential critical evolutions could be a first, but essential, step-in preventing crises and also in finding appropriate innovation approaches. Although it is not very evident, such way of thinking could be extrapolated in order to benefit from similar experiences we could learn inside ICT development evolutions, recalling the remarkable potential of ICT advances to export from their mechanisms of progress and optimization toward other IS/KBS domains.

The analysis of the example from [4] revealed that ICT should provide, with priority, instruments and solutions to respond at the economy and IS/KBS challenges, confronted with general uncertainty of the business context of World crises, but in the same time with the necessity of adapting to the mandatory changes required by the digital transformation. This case, alongwiththecomplexproblemof digital transformation,crucialforallbusinesscontext, confirmed again the subtle approach of ICT models (to learn from), which provide success (as network infrastructures, applications and services) at Earth scale, due to the methods and algorithms used (to measure and analyse) before any implementation/investment phase.

Another analysed example showed that, fortunately, the academic world is also implied in the mentioned global effort, complementing the ICT advances in spectacular ways of identifying the above desired links and innovations in the complicate landscape of the World challenges. This example/project, developed at the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute,isrelevant, not only becausetheproject is alsolinkedwith actualdefence requirements, but because it is pointing one of the subtle innovation approaches of ICT advances: Knowing When You Don’t Know [5]. Here the main idea is not only to point some directions for AI/ML development, but it is confirming, as we also presented [26], that an essential feature of ICT development, in the general IS/KBS context, oriented for efficacy and efficiency when approaching the challenges of World crises, Earth ecosystem and even humankind (species) evolution, is the properly refining of knowledge, as crucial field of research and optimization for identifying factors that determine uncertainty.

As a final conclusion, we think that such targets are extremely difficult in the complex, complicate but also very dynamic Earth ecosystem context, leading to the idea that timely and deeper analyses should be continued, along with the innovation approaches efforts which are needed at all levels of IS/KBS, in order to leverage the proper refined knowledge and stimulate all factors to follow the rational actions, before it is too late

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Abstract

Social Robots in Organizational Contexts: The

Role of Culture and Future Research Need

by Cosmin TĂNASE

An Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee

The integration of social robots in organizations is on the rise. In the future, an increase in the application of physically embodied robots who socially interact and collaborate with humans is expected. The successful integration of social robots in organizations requires a cultural ﬁt between values embedded in social robots and values lived in the organizational context in which the robot is deployed. A new generation of robots has emerged. Unlike conventional industrial robots that perform repetitive tasks in a delimited area in factories, this relatively new type of robot is characterized by sociality, which means that it has the ability to express emotions, communicate, and learn from other agents. Compared to industrial robots, social robots no longer function as mere “machines” that perform some predefined tasks such as assembling car parts. They are able to cooperate and interact autonomously with human partners to achieve mutual goals based on their cognitive abilities.

Keywords: Social Interaction, Robot Research, Cultural Levels, Communication, Technology Integration

JEL Classification: C88; D83; M31; M37; O33

A variety of application areas for social robots is currently evolving. For example, social robots may assist patients in “checking in” at the doctors, support customers in hotel lobbies, or they can help students with their learning activities. This new kind of interaction with robots comes with challenges such as the integration of social robots in existing organizational contexts. This integration has to be tailored to the specific needs of each organization and be aligned with the organizational culture, so that the social robot can unfold its potential and contribute to increased organizational performance.

Particularly,theintegrationofsocialrobotsintoorganizationalcultures,i.e.theacceptanceamong employees to interact with the social robot, will play a key role in social robot adoption. Social robots will increasingly collaborate with humans in the workplace, where they will take over autonomousrolesinworkprocesses.Hence,socialrobotswillbepartoftheorganizationalculture and both human and robot behavior will mutually shape each other. Thus, the concept of culture is an essential research field in robot design and robot integration in organizations.

SOCIAL ROBOTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS

Overthepasttwodecades,severalattemptshavebeenmadetodefinetheconceptofasocialrobot. A review of definitions of social robots reveals that a variety of facets have been taken into account. Scholars from the field have not reached consensus on the typology of social robots. Socialrobotsaregenerallyunderstoodasmachines,applications,orautonomousagents.Although the ability of social interaction is considered the main function of a social robot, some researchers also explicitly mention other functional skills such as task execution, assistance, and problem solving. Furthermore, beyond the interaction with humans, other researchers additionally include the interaction with the environment or other robots as one of the qualification criteria of a social robot. Moreover, research has defined various attributes that characterize a social robot. While most definitions emphasize sociality and communicativeness, for some researchers, the physical embodimentorthepossessionofcognitivefunctionsareveryimportantelementsofasocialrobot

The term social robot is often used synonymously with service robots. Unarguably, there is an overlap of the capabilities between social robots and service robots, which are robots that perform “useful tasks for humans”. Both might be partially autonomous, possess some sort of cognitive functions, and carry out social interactions with their counterpart such as avoidance of collisions, communication through audio, visual, and written signals, collaboration in assembly tasks, etc.

Todistinguishsocialrobotsfromservicerobots,wesuggestusingthecharacteristicsandtheextent of social interactions of their main task as indicators. While the main task of a service robot is to performacertainactivitythatphysicallysupportshumans,suchaslifting,assembling,orcleaning, the main task of a social robot is to interact socially with people, for example through having a conversation, playing a game, answering questions, providing guidance, or engaging in learning activities. Despite these differences, however, we can expect that the capabilities of social and service robots become increasingly aligned over time. Even today, we can already identify robots that integrate both physical and verbal interaction with humans.

ORGANIZATIONAL APPLICATION AREAS OF SOCIAL ROBOTS

The ability to interact socially with the user and engage with the user on an emotional level opens up new possibilities for the application of social robots in organizations. In the domains of healthcare, education, and tourism, the use of social robots has been intensively studied. The following sections give an overview of these application areas:

1. Healthcare - Several trends drive the use of social robots in healthcare: On the one hand, the demand for care has been increasing due to the globally ageing population and the rising prevalence of people with disabilities. On the other hand, the cost of care has continuously grown whiletheshortageofhealthcareprofessionalsisstillconsiderable.Socialrobotsfindabroadrange of applications in healthcare. Research has mostly focused on two target groups: elderly people and children. When it comes to elderly people, researchers have investigated the use of social robots for various application scenarios, such as the treatment of mental health, promotion of psychological well-being, support of physiotherapy and companionship Research targeting children has mostly focused on involving social robots in the treatment of autistic spectrum disorder, in which a social robot can take on various roles to achieve the therapeutic goals. In addition, social robots are used in health elucidation (e.g. quizzes on diabetes knowledge) and well-being (e.g. distraction during vaccination) of children

2. Education - A further popular application domain of social robots is education. In this context, social robots can take on the role of a teacher, teaching assistant, novice, companion, and peer. Most research is aimed at children and the education of adolescents. Language learning and teaching is increasingly using social robots. A meta-review showed that social robots were predominantly involved in vocabulary learning. However, a few studies also reported how robots can help improve reading skills, grammar learning, and sign language. In further application scenarios, social robots acted, for example, as teaching assistants to support learning activities in small groups.

3.Tourism-Agrowingnumberofresearchhasinvestigatedtheuseofrobotsintourismincluding organizations such as hotels, museums, and shopping malls, where social robots often play the role of an information provider. In the hospitality and catering sector, the robot is preferably seen as a receptionist and concierge, performing tasks related to logistics and goods delivery, taking customer orders, providing information, and processing payments. Furthermore, from the hotel manager’s perspective, registering guests for breakfast, connecting the guest to the hotel desk via videoconference,andguidingthegueststothedesiredlocationareconsideredusefulapplications.

Additionally, application scenarios in shopping malls are similar to hospitality, with a primary focus on information provision, guidance, and entertainment. Social robots also have the potential to be used at the airport to accompany passengers during their flight transfer Many application scenarios for social robots are still in a research and testing phase and scholars are working intensively on the technical realization and improvement of the use of social robots. However, studies have also shown that the integration of social robots in given contexts is also culturally challenging,sincepeopledonot necessarilyaccept social robotsasinteractionpartners,especially in tasks that require intensive relationship building (e.g., in education or healthcare).

CULTURE AS A CONCEPT IN SOCIAL ROBOT RESEARCH

Culture is a concept that is difficult to grasp and researchers have defined it in many different ways. Basically, many researchers agree that the essential elements that define culture are values,

whichareconceptsofthedesirable inotherterms,what agroupdeemspropertowant or pursue. For example, a groupmay appreciate the value reliability and, thus, act accordingly through being there for each other, or a group may appreciate the value individualism and find it preferable that everyone can do as they like. This specification leads to another important aspect of culture: the concept always refers to a certain social system, be it a group of friends, an organization or a geographical region. Researchers refer to this lens as levels of culture, such as national culture, professional culture, organizational culture, and group culture

Consideringthesespecificationsof culture,organizationshavetounderstandwhichcultural levels and associated values are already in place or are required for a successful integration of technologies. As culture has a strong influence on (work) behavior and thus on organizational performance, it should also be considered as an important factor in social robot research.

CULTURE AS PART OF SOCIAL ROBOT STUDIES

Little research is addressing cultural aspects of social robots and human-robot collaboration because the vast majority of robotics studies come from the fields of engineering and computer sciences and focus on technological robot development and performance. When robotics studies investigate culture, they mainly focus on differences in national culture to optimize the functionalities and design of robots. Next, a brief overview of the study of culture in relation to robots in the three organizational application areas described above will be given:

1. Healthcare - Only a few robotics studies focus on the concept of culture in healthcare, even thoughculturalcompetenceisessentialinthiscontext.Arobotshouldadapttothespecificcultural context in which it assists people, such as healthcare workers, elderly people in domestic environments, or patients in hospitals. Especially patients and the elderly in need of care are in a vulnerable state and deployed care robots should represent the cultural values that are needed in this context. Further, a person’s attitude towards health and self-care strongly depends on their cultural background - another cultural aspect social robot designers should take into account. The few culture-related studies of robots in healthcare either address the implementation of surgical robots in differentnational cultures, or theyfocus on how people perceive andinteract with robots at a national or cross-national level in different application scenarios. These studies identify the cultural competence of robots as highly relevant for their application in healthcare and acknowledge cultural differences with regard tothe investigated concepts. However, these studies mostly address cultural values in relation to national culture and do not examine further cultural layers that predominate in healthcare, such as organizational values and patient values.

2. Education - There is also little research on the cultural requirements of social robot implementation in education or the cultural values embedded in educational robots. Few studies on robots in the education sector, focusing on culture, investigate either attitudes towards robots or user acceptance as well as child-robot interaction across national cultures. Some studies investigate the difference between Eastern and Western cultures and their openness and willingness to use robots in educational contexts. The underlying assumption is that culture has a

strong influence on the acceptance and use of robots, as confirmed by these studies. Overall, most research conducted on social robots in education focuses on identifying and evaluating learning scenarios and applications without highlighting the culture or underlying values.

3. Tourism - With regard to tourism, some studies on robots focus on their integration into museums to innovate cultural heritage. Further research investigates the cultural differences in attitudes towards robots in Eastern and Western national cultures. Some researchers examine for example the national evolution of robot culture in Japan Ideas for robot applications in tourism are manifold, however, the concept of culture is not yet being studied intensely at many levels other than national culture. Regardless of the application scenario, the consideration of cultural values is essential to successfully integrate social robots into organizations together with an appropriate design of these robots and the respective human-robot interactions.

Lack of Focus on Culture in Social Robot Research - Overall research on social robots hardly focusesonorganizationalculture,eventhoughexistingstudiesandconceptualresearchemphasize its importance. Nevertheless, we can identify a strong need for research that addresses not only the national, but all different levels of culture, and considers cultural values that should be embedded in social robots for their successful integration in organizations. In fact, not only the strategies and goals of an organization determine the success or failure of technology integration, but also the acceptance of the users who determine whether the integration of an artefact into the work routines makes sense

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN INTEGRATING SOCIAL ROBOTS IN ORGANIZATIONS

The integration of robots in organizations influences organizational structures and workflows as well as roles and responsibilities. Following prior research on the implementation of novel approaches in organizations, they have to understand their cultural readiness for the integration of social robots in order to design a work environment that enables meaningful human-robot collaboration. In other words, organizations are aware of which of their cultural values support or hinder the implementation of social robots. Research has called for a value-sensitive focus on socialrobots.Particularly,thevalue-sensitivedesignapproachhasbecomepopularinrecentyears. It emphasizes the need to integrate human values in technology through a bottom-up approach. Accordingly, the focus should be on the type of values to consider for the cultural integration of social robots into organizational contexts.

Conceptualization - Regarding the cultural integration of social robots into organizations, there are two key sets of values based on previous research. First of all, we need to consider the organizational culture through the values that employees live by in the organization. In other words, we need to have a good understanding of how far the organizational culture supports the integrationofsocial robotsor howfarthegivencultureneedstobeinfluencedsothatsocialrobots

can actually support the organizational performance. Second, we need to consider the values that are embedded in the specific social robot that an organization intends to integrate. Examples for such values could be fun, modesty, control, and companionship.

The overlap of these two types of values (organizational values and social robot values) is what we call the cultural fit. A high cultural fit exists when the organizational culture embraces values thatarealsoembeddedinsocialrobots.Alowculturalfitmeansthatthesocialrobotvaluesoppose the organizational culture. In the latter case, cultural resistance regarding the application of the social robot can be expected.

Accordingly, a cultural fit between the values embedded in social robots and the values lived in the organizational context has a positive influence on social robot performance, i.e. the degree to whichthesocialrobotsupportstheorganizationinachievingitsgoals.Morespecifically,weargue that social robots which culturally fit the organization provide the organization with performance benefits such as more efficient and effective business processes. For example, social robots may provide information more quickly, more accurately, and more cost-efficiently than employees. Such performance benefits can be called social robot performance.

CONCLUSIONS

A better understanding of the cultural requirements to successfully integrate social robots into organizations will help practitioners to achieve more powerful performance benefits through the usage of social robots, it will help robot designers develop social robots with integrated cultural values, and it will help employees and customers to see social robots as part of their cultural groups.

Regarding organizational values, future research could examine which values have a positive effect on the integration of social robots in organizations. For example, based on a survey, researchers could analyze what kind of organizational values support the integration of a social robot among employees. Furthermore, a scale/measurement instrument could be developed to examine the cultural readiness of an organization to integrate social robots. Such a scale could measure how far an organizational culture already embraces those values embedded in a particular social robot to anticipate potential difficulties and required cultural changes for a successful social robot implementation. Regarding social robot performance, future research may also develop a scale to measure the performance of social robots. This scale could assess how far the social robot contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational processes (e.g., what factors determine efficient and effective processes supported by a social robot, and how can we measure them?). Finally, researchers could examine what kind of cultural contexts support the performance of social robots the most. A survey could be used that builds on the developed scale for social robot performance and on an assessment of the organizational culture.

References

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The

Paradigm Shift in E-Commerce Within the Context of the New AI Space Race

value realization in the AI-driven world. The immersive experience of metaverse in an unreal world is imposing e-commerce companies to deeply know consumers, and assumed the challenge of shaping how the technology will look. There is a real need to focus greater attention on the paradigm shift in e-commerce and participating in it, considering the new AI space race and the tangible value that will come with AI, keeping in mind humans.

Keywords: E-Commerce; Metaverse; TAM; Generative AI; Data Fusion; AI Space Race

JEL Classification: D83; L21; M21; M31; M37; O31; O33

Deepening the experiment in the metaverse, and improving by considering reflective learning. Businesses and users value realization

As we highlighted previously, there was no doubt about the importance of taking the smart strategic decision in experimenting in the metaverse (Purcarea a, 2022), including by considering the already use of the Metaverse Index, and how Web3 applications and use cases are built (Purcarea b, 2022). According to IBM’s representatives (Moura-Smith, Chandra and Darkazalli, 2022), in understanding the characteristics of strategic change business value

realization (seen as “the ability to measure the direct influence of projects and people to executive-level business objectives”) is instrumental.

With regard to the value realization created and delivered via providers or producers, from the point of view of customers or users – as recently reconfirmed by Huang, Gao & Gao (a, 2023) – it is widely accepted that in the end this is established as perceived value by them, because customers or users are accomplishing products or services’ value evaluation (and not the producers or providers). Approaching customers’ and end users’ perspective of acting on the phygital reality market, the authors brought to our attention the way of application in omnichannel retailing and metaverse of digital, smart, and extended reality technologies (b, 2023) They underlined the extensive business possibilities opened by the year 2021 (considered a “crossroad for the virtualization of human society”), the metaverse (whose users can act in phygital realms) allowing not only to interact with the real world, but also to map and transcend it (c, 2023).

As metaverse and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) have become liked by many people in recent years, Toraman and Geçit (2023) approached recently how metaverse is accepted by users within the context of an increasing e-commerce (its users benefiting from many opportunities), for understanding their behavior in adopting new technologies the authors using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and their proposed model looking as follows (see figure below). They conducted a structural equation analysis via Smart PLS, and demonstrated that there is a significant and positive effect of the perceived compatibility, enjoyment, and trust on perceived usefulness.

Source: Toraman, Y. & Geçit, B.B., 2023. User Acceptance of Metaverse: An Analysis for e-Commerce in the Framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Sosyoekonomi, Vol. 31(55), p. 91 (work cited)

They made a comprehensive literature review of TAM, as shown in the below table (where: PU means Perceived Usefulness; PE is Perceived Enjoyment; C is Compatibility; PEOU is Perceived Ease of Use; AT is Attitude; I is Intention; AU is Actual Use; PBC is Perceived Behavioral Control; TR is Trust; E is Enjoyment; FE is Flow Experience; and CI is Continuance Intention). Among other aspects, research results revealed the followings: the importance of the

Figure no. 1: Proposed Model (by Toraman and Geçit)

enjoyment variable as the metaverse system is perceived by users as a game; the importance of the compatibility perceived by users (and having a positive effect on the perceived usefulness of the individual) from metaverse systems; the role of trust in people’s preference for interaction (the case of e-commerce marketplaces as reliable systems).

The AI-driven world and the immersive experience of metaverse in an unreal world, while deeply knowing consumers. The challenge of shaping how the technology will look

As shown by Wheeler (2023), the immersive experience of metaverse (seen as a creature of AI) in an unreal world will bring new challenges (both capabilities, and threats) for our digital future, these challenges coming to life in an AI-defined and AI-driven world in which various problems (of digital privacy, competition, and misinformation) will be spread by the metaverse through all parts of this world beyond people current experience This is where the necessary attention on this transformational move (from observation to participation) comes from, making

Table no. 1: Literature Review of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (by Toraman and Geçit) Source: Toraman, Y. & Geçit, B.B., 2023. User Acceptance of Metaverse: An Analysis for e-Commerce in the Framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Sosyoekonomi, Vol. 31(55), p. 94 (work cited)

it “imperative to reassert a role for public interest oversight of digital private interests. Such a prioritization becomes even more urgent as we watch the unsupervised creation of a new virtual world with unprecedented powers. ”

In such a context it is not surprising that a Professor at Northwestern University, Dashun Wang, Director, Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI, the first center world-wide dedicated to the field of the science of science) stated as follows: “Now is the time to set policy for an immersive future… Companies and academia are still wrapping their minds around what the metaverse can be. With the metaverse still largely a solution in search of a problem… we have time to shape how the technology will look. We should use it” (Parker, 2023).

According to McKinsey’s representatives (Buzzell et al., 2023), the boundaries of technology are being pushed by various metaverse initiatives but these initiatives often fail in achieving their aim with target consumers who need to be engaged with the most interesting use cases. A Metaverse Consumer Survey conducted by McKinsey in October 2022 revealed significant aspects such as: a greater interest expressed by consumers generally in experiences and products (across retail categories) augmenting the existing real-world experiences; in order to achieve a successful metaverse approach it is recommendable (according to views from McKinsey’s E-Commerce Global Initiative) to deeply know consumers (including where the target consumers are in their metaverse journey), to ground experiments in real-world applicability, connecting the physical and digital worlds and refining offerings accordingly.

Focusing greater attention on the paradigm shift in e-commerce and participating in it

To remain competitive in the market businesses are challenged to continuously adapt to changing consumer expectations and technological advancements driving the very quickly evolving e-commerce landscape. A paradigm shift in e-commerce is catalyzed by the generative AI and data fusion, the online shopping boundaries being redefined by responsibly valorizing these new technologies and deepening connections with customers and increasing engagement (Cassidy, 2023). The shopping journey is benefitting from the generative AI (and natural language processing, image recognition, and semantic understanding) powering chatbots deployed by e-commerce companies which are valorizing the conversational commerce based on interactive interactions facilitated by AI-driven chatbots and impacted by the fusion of first-party and third-party data (integrated into generative AI systems), making possible an intelligent customer engagement (customers’ product search and discovery being made more intuitive and efficient by the generative AI models). Valorizing the valuable actionable insights derived from data fusion (while ensuring transparency about data collection and usage practices, including algorithmic bias and privacy concerns) e-commerce companies can obtain a comprehensive view on their customers and build the right targeted marketing strategies.

There is no doubt about the advantages offered in using search for commerce by the disruptive technologies like the generative AI models which can be trained on extensive data (Spong, 2023), not only indicating what customers are interested in, but also suggesting, for instance, how to enhance the appearance of those customers if they are returning an item of clothing (based on incorrect sizing, considered the most common reason for returning an online order), meaning taking online personalization to the next level with the help of AI for commerce search. This kind of search is improving results’ accuracy and relevance based on language processing models and deep learning techniques, offering customers precisely what they want, making them feel special and understood from their first visit, and solving the pressing problem of search abandonment.

Of course, as robots do not have feelings it is also necessary to think carefully about employees’ and customers’ emotional aspect, when deciding or judging the co-working with AI applications, considering what is happening at the intersection of emotion and intelligence (Mohadjer, 2023)

Instead of conclusions: The new AI space race and the tangible value that will come with AI, maintaining humans in the loop

In February this year we underlined the fine linkage between e-commerce acceleration and advancing marketing technology stake, making reference to valuable conversations about AI (from Dall-E to ChatGPT) and its impact on digital marketing, generative AI & personalization and so on (Purcarea a, 2023) A month later, we made reference to digital marketers’ need to learn from the many use cases concerning ChatGPT, generative AI, e-commerce profitability improvement based on immersive product imagery and so on (Purcarea b, 2023).

According to Maxwell (2023), within the context of a true “high-stakes technology arms race” in bringing “ChatGPT-inspired products to the market”, will emerge “more capable ChatGPT alternatives”. On the other hand, Patel and Wong (2023) recently stated as follows: “Over the next few years, multiple companies such as Google, Meta, and OpenAI/Microsoft will train models on supercomputers worth over one hundred billion dollars. Meta is burning over $16 billion a year on the “Metaverse”, Google waste’s $10 billions a year on a variety of projects that will never come to fruition. Amazon has lost over $50+ billion on Alexa. Cryptocurrencies wasted over $100 billion on nothing of value. These firms and society in general can and will spend over one hundred billion on creating supercomputers that can train single massive model. These massive models can then be productized in a variety of ways. That effort will be duplicated in multiple counties and companies. It’s the new space race. The difference between those prior wastes and now is that with AI there is tangible value that will come from the short term from human assistants and autonomous agents…”

On the other hand, very recently, Weng, Goel and Vallone (2023) stated on OpenAI blog that: “We are actively exploring further enhancement of GPT-4’s prediction quality, for example,

by incorporating chain-of-thought reasoning or self-critique. We are also experimenting with ways to detect unknown risks and, inspired by Constitutional AI (Bai et al., 2022), aim to leverage models to identify potentially harmful content given high-level descriptions of what is considered harmful. These findings would then inform updates to existing content policies, or the development of policies on entirely new risk areas… As with any AI application, results and output will need to be carefully monitored, validated, and refined by maintaining humans in the loop…”

Also very recently, the President of the global e-commerce platform Shopify, Harley Finkelstein (Roth, 2023), underlined among other aspects that: “What we’re trying to do is not only make sure that the things you want to do right now on Shopify are available and robust and world-class, but also that the things you may want to do years from now are also available, whether it’s AI-based commerce, or Web3, or augmented reality. We’re working on those things now, not because people want them right now, but because we anticipate in the future they may. And if we think in the future they may, we have to make small bets now in order to qualify for that later… We’ve been integrated with Google Shopping and YouTube for many years, and when you see live shopping inside of Google, people posting products underneath the video on YouTube, that’s all powered by Shopify… Everyone’s talking about AI now, but we’ve been experimenting with it for a very long time for product descriptions, knowing that at some point AI is going to get so good that all you will need to do is take a photograph of a product and the algorithm will write you the most amazing, highly converting product description out there…”

Allow us to end by making reference to what a Member of the Board and an Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee (Greu, 2016) wrote in our RDC Magazine seven years ago, in April 2016, with regard to “Tomorrow’s Paradox”: “The exponential development of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) in IS (Information Society) context toward KBS (Knowledge Based Society) and the natural limits of humans create the premises of strange evolutions of the inherent interactions between humans and ICT smart machines, along the complex and dynamic processes of generating knowledge and refining knowledge. Our analysis revealed the detailed mechanism which could lead to abnormal or paradox situations when ICT smart machines could/should replace humans. ”

References

Bai et al., 2022. Constitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI Feedback, Cornell University, Computer Science > Computation and Language, 15 Dec 2022. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.08073.

Buzzell, C., Lalji, Z., Loyola, A., Rants, K., Scofield, E. and Zimmermann, S., 2023. Unlocking commerce in the metaverse. [pdf] McKinsey’s E-Commerce Global Initiative, pp. 1-6, June 8, 2023. Available at: <unlocking-commerce-in-the-metaverse> [Accessed 14 June 2023].

Cassidy, H., 2023. Shaping the Future of E-Commerce: Unleashing Personalized Engagement and Value Creation With Generative AI and Data Fusion, Bloomreach, 07.08.2023. [online] Available at: < https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2023/generative-ai-and-data-fusion> [Accessed 9 August 2023].

Greu, V., 2016. Tomorrow’s Paradox: Refining Knowledge by Smarter Information and Communications Technologies while Humans Tend to Become a Limited Factor of Performance, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 7(1), pp. 10-17, April.

Huang, L., Gao, B., Gao, M. (2023). Value Realization from the Perspective of Customers and Users. In: Value Realization in the Phygital Reality Market. Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4129-2_2

Huang, L., Gao, B., Gao, M., 2023. Introduction Scope and Overview. In: Value Realization in the Phygital Reality Market. Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-41292_1.

Huang, L., Gao, B., Gao, M., 2023. The Metaverse Era: The Fourth Transformation in the Age of Internet Communication. In: Value Realization in the Phygital Reality Market. Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4129-2_6.

Maxwell, T., 2023. The 9 Best Alternatives to ChatGPT, MakeUseOf (MUO), Updated 15 August 2023. [online] Available at: <https://www.makeuseof.com/best-alternatives-chatgpt/?> [Accessed 17 August 2023].

Mohadjer, N., 2023. Does Artificial Intelligence Have Emotional Intelligence? European Business Review, July 25, 2023. Available at: <https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/does-artificial-intelligence-have-emotional-intelligence/> [Accessed on 16 August 2023].

Moura-Smith, D., Chandra, P., Darkazalli, J., 2022. The Art of Value Realization for Smarter Enterprises, IBM, March 24, 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.ibm.com/blog/the-art-of-value-realization-for-smarter-enterprises/> [accessed 18 August 2023].

Parker, S., 2023. How the Metaverse Could Shape Science, Kellogg Insight - Northwestern University, Innovation, June 21, 2023, Based on the research of Gómez-Zara, D., Schiffer, P. and Wang, D. - “The Promise and Pitfalls of the Metaverse for Science.” 2023. Nature Human Behaviour. [online] Available at: <https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/how-themetaverse-could-shape-science?> [Accessed 2 July 2023].

Patel, D. and Wong, G., 2023. GPT-4 Architecture, Infrastructure, Training Dataset, Costs, Vision, MoE, SemiAnalysis, 10 July 2023. [online] Available at: <https://www.semianalysis.com/p/gpt-4-architecture-infrastructure?> [Accessed 30 July 2023].

Purcarea, I.M., 2023. E-Commerce, Marketing Technology Stake, and Improved DCX, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 13 (1), pp. 30-40, February.

Purcarea, I.M., 2023. Social Commerce Ecosystem, Social Media Marketers’ New Tool ChatGPT, and E-Commerce Profitability Improvement Based on Immersive Product Imagery, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 14(1), pp. 25-32, March.

Purcarea, I.M., 2022. Digital Customer Engagement, CX Future and the Advance of the Metaverse-Related Activities Including in E-Commerce Retail, Holistic Marketing Management, vol. 12(3), pp. 13-21, October.

Purcarea, I.M., 2022. Digital Twins, Web3, Metaverse, Value Innovation and E-Commerce retail," Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, vol. 13(3), pp. 41-47, October.

Roth, E., 2023. The Committed Innovator: Talking with Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein, McKinsey & Company, Capabilities, Podcast, August 14, 2023. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/ourinsights/the-committed-innovator-talking-with-shopifys-harley-finkelstein?> [Accessed 20 August 2023].

Spong, K., 2023. The AI Search for Commerce Guide, Bloomreach, 27.06.2023. [online] Available at: <https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/2023/the-ai-search-for-commerce-guide?> [Accessed 17 July 2023].

Toraman, Y. & Geçit, B.B., 2023. User Acceptance of Metaverse: An Analysis for e-Commerce in the Framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Sosyoekonomi, Vol. 31(55), pp. 85-104. DOI: 10.17233/sosyoekonomi.2023.01.05.

Weng, L., Goel, V., Vallone, A., 2023. Using GPT-4 for content moderation, OpenAI, August 15, 2023. Available at: <https://openai.com/blog/using-gpt-4-for-content-moderation?> [Accessed 20 August 2023].

Wheeler, T., 2023. AI makes rules for the metaverse even more important, Brookings Institution, July 13, 2023. [online] Available at: <https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-makes-rules-for-the-metaverse-even-more-important/?> [Accessed 19 July 2023].

● In Memoriam Professor Vasile STĂNESCU, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, and Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee

Note from the Editor-in-Chief

We all know that in its symbolic work of interpretation of the phenomena of spiritual culture, memory proceeds with reconstructions, based on the research of historical truth. On the other hand, it has been shown that: gratitude, as a memory of the heart, as an act of justice, gives meaning to the past, enriches the present and creates a vision for tomorrow, constituting a true blessing to pay homage to those who deserve to be honored; between the infinity of gratitude and the finitude of existence lies trust (rooted in our structural disproportion) as a continuous tension.

On the occasion of the appearance of a new book by Professor Vasile STĂNESCU and so suggestive for the difficult moments we have gone through, Valeriu Ioan-Franc (Member of the Romanian Academy, Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences – Institute of Spain, General Deputy Director, National Institute for Economic Research “Costin C. Kiriţescu”, Romanian Academy, and First Vice-President of the Romanian Distribution Committee) made the following comment: " Being younger, I remember here our activities from the bygone days, when the freedom we envisioned was a wish, and now here we are, we can honor those of us, wiser and stronger, such as Professor Vasile Stănescu, Member of the Romanian Academy, who made us cherish and to defend today what we glimpsed then… I always share the same feelings and good thoughts that I address, in turn, to Professor Vasile Stănescu. On the fourth of February we will celebrate His anniversary with joy and hope for us and new teachings that, of course, in His nobility and goodness, He has to give us from now on. We are in great need, there is a great need in these fierce times...”

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In Memoriam Professor Vasile STĂNESCU, Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, and Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee

Scriam în luna martie 2009 că: “Academicianul Vasile Stanescu ne supune la un examen de conştiinţă al lumii în care trăim prin noua sa lucrare de referinţă: “Globalizarea. Spre o nouă treaptă de civilizaţie”, Ed. EIKON, Cluj-Napoca, 2009… Lansată la Casa Oamenilor de Ştiinţă a Academiei Române” (https://www.crd-aida.ro/2008/11/academicianul-vasile-stanescune-supune-la-un-examen-de-constiinta-al-lumii-in-care-traim-prin-noua-sa-lucrare-de-referinta%e2%80%9cglobalizarea-spre-o-noua-treapta-de-civilizatie-ed-eikon-cluj/). Ca în anul următor, 2010, în luna februarie, “La împlinirea de către Profesorul Vasile Stănescu, Membru de Onoare al Academiei Române, a frumoasei vârste de 85 de ani…” (https://www.crd-aida.ro/2010/02/laimplinirea-de-catre-profesorul-vasile-stanescu-membru-de-onoare-al-academiei-romane-afrumoasei-varste-de-85-de-ani/), să adăugam, printre altele, că: “…timpul nu era suficient pentru ca toţi invitaţii să poată să spună ceea ce ar fi dorit să transmită unui drag şi valoros mare prieten, unui simbol al demersului societăţii civile de cultivare a valorilor absolute.”

În luna februarie 2014 am salutat o nouă valoroasă contribuţie – << Vasile Stănescu, “Path towards freedom. From sensory knowledge to trans-knowledge” >> (“Drumul spre libertate. De la cunoaşterea senzorială la transcunoaştere”, Editura Universul Juridic, Bucureşti, 2014), subliniind, printre altele, câteva din ideile exprimate de Domnia Sa în cadrul respectiv: “…we are projected by events, waking up trapped in a continuous tension, with the spectrum of risks that float above us and shattered illusions; the public expressed aggressiveness occupies almost integrally the public space, tends to become a general feature of this space, with reverberations in people’s personal lives; mediocrity and corruption, indifference to the common interest, of the public good, is a direct attack to competitiveness, degradation of opportunities and resources, promotion of personal interests; competition has taken a dramatic end, the fight being carried out between values and interests; memory decreased considerably, as well as remembering the makers of history, ancestors, and of major cultural and spiritual values; we easily say good-bye to the past… ignoring the given time and place, laws of evolution, ignoring, in fact, our own history ; we cannot look towards the future without preserving, honoring and valuing the memory of the past, as the only way for continuation; there is a need for strategies and policies in all fields of activity, of a high professionalism and profound morality, of the restoration of the axiological scale, of models and reconsidering values” (https://www.crdaida.ro/2014/02/vasile-stanescu-path-towards-freedom-from-sensory-knowledge-to-transknowledge/).

În luna aprilie 2015, cu ocazia celebrării Domniei Sale de către Academia Română –

“The Romanian Academy has celebrated the 90th birthday of the venerable Professor Vasile Stănescu” (https://www.crd-aida.ro/2015/04/the-romanian-academy-has-celebrated-the-90thbirthday-of-the-venerable-professor-vasile-stanescu/ ) – am reamintit larga recunoaştere a vocaţiei Domniei Sale pentru răspândirea cunoştinţelor. Câteva luni mai tarziu, în luna iulie 2015

“Our world has entered a new temporality” (https://www.distribution-magazine.eu/our-worldhas-entered-a-new-temporality/), am transmis peste meridiane câteva din preţioasele idei exprimate de Domnia Sa în discursul din luna aprilie 2015: “Life is… a continuous oscillation between arrival and departure, between light and shadow … I want to hear the silence of things (Emil Cioran) and the music of spheres (Pitagora), because when you stop believing, in fact, you stop existing, you stop living history… we are the expression of our thoughts, as well as the perception we have of the world and of our own construction… Our world has entered a new temporality … multiple levels of reality we live in … we are projected by events… waking up captives, in a continuous tension… Today’s world does not yet exercise common destiny of human beings wherever they are, of solidarity and empathy … Contemporary science is moving in a greater extent, to a new approach to knowledge … to a new methodology… Progress got so far… How could poets sing the cyborg – human being? What will replace retrieving Self, charm of reading, meditation, melancholia, dreaming? …in these times of wanderings, crushed by the huge civilization machine, the emphasis is on the utility values of civilization at the expense of cultural and moral values, as well as patterns. Human beings are dehumanized, there are major imbalances … The competition took a dramatic end, the fight being carried out between values and interests … Coupling intelligence and good taste, its feelings…with the general laws of the market… laws that induce exacerbated selfishness, not only in action but also in thought, individual and collective mind is saddening for the human being; we easily say goodbye to the past, replacing admiration and respect with the show, with rhetoric and self-sufficiency, if not ironic or higher depreciation … We live in an ambivalence incapable of solving the idea of continuity… Endangered is the factor of cohesion and mobilization of society: patriotism, national interests… the fragility and vulnerability of our planet’s projection are in an ambivalence that give us cold chills: stability vs. instability, peace – war, creation – destruction, progress – catastrophe, moral – immoral, empathy – indifference, order – chaos, socialization

exacerbated individualism, freedom – dictatorship.” Domnia Sa a mai mărturisit, printre altele, că: “Finally, in fact firstly, I would like to thank my wife who has accompanied me on my trajectory for 62 years, with her unfailing love, generosity, selflessness and understanding, I owe her respect, appreciation and all my gratitude. It represents for me a victory of the human spirit, deep soul, and unlimited availability… The legacy that I try to leave, as I took it from my good parents – a hot tear in their memory – is in the spirit of family, love, warmth, light, beauty and joy of emotions, in the roots, alkane myths and old traditions in which I was born and which have accompanied my childhood and adolescence, the nest where I learned about moderation, devotion, decency and rigors of labor, moral, educational and religious virtues, idyllic, mythological image, archetype. All this invaluable spiritual wealth – which is family – is the certainty, the duration, the way to breathe together, the meaning of life.”

În luna ianuarie 2017 am scris din nou despre Profesorul Vasile Stănescu, Membru de onoare al Academiei Române, consacrat arhitect al conversaţiei lămuritoare, al comunității, al societății civile într-o lume globalizată, mereu dăruind cu generozitate gândirea despre viitor într-un mod structurat (https://www.crd-aida.ro/2017/01/profesorul-vasile-stanescu-elogiul-

–

iubirii/ ). Am arătat cum Domnia Sa: capturează din nou atenţia pasionaţilor de cunoaştere de înţelepciune graţie unei noi valoroase lucrări: “Elogiul iubirii” (Editura Universul Juridic, 2016, Categoria Filosofie Românească, Colecţia Eseuri coordonată de Prof. univ. dr. Ovidiu Predescu); continuă să înainteze pe calea frumosului, înconjurat de frumos, reflectând frumosul, abordând de această dată cel mai înălţător sentiment uman (care ne însoţeşte pe întreg traiectul nostru existenţial), prezentându-i tipologia, amploarea şi sensul, invitând totodată la meditaţie şi reflecţii pe această temă fundamentală. Pledoaria responsabilă a Domniei Sale pentru avansul economico-social organizat, pentru victoria raţiunii ca sursă a armoniei generatoare de soluţii viabile în raport cu aşteptările societăţii umane, pentru regăsirea valorilor fundamentale ale familiei globale, este binecunoscută de mult timp. De această dată, Profesorul Vasile Stănescu, Membru de onoare al Academiei Române, ne invită – în contextul în care “lumea de azi a ajuns în pragul limitelor sale istorice” şi “ne aflăm între întuneric şi lumină”– nu să descifrăm hermeneutica iubirii, ci să trăim acest cel mai puternic şi profund sentiment uman, să ne bucurăm de el, să-l primim şi să-l dăruim, deoarece iubirea este “divinul din noi”. Autorul mărturiseşte, de asemenea, privilegiul căsniciei cu distinsa Doamnă Yvonne (lucrarea fiind dedicată memoriei distinsei Sale Soţii), care rămâne, pentru Domnia Sa, “o victorie a spiritului uman, a sufletului profund, a disponibilităţii nelimitate”, mulţumindu-i totodată şi fiului Dan, considerat “un exemplu de iubire şi frumuseţe lăuntrică”

Iar în luna februarie 2018, în contextul împlinirii de către Domnia Sa a vârstei de 93 de ani (https://www.distribution-magazine.eu/profesorul-vasile-stanescu-membru-de-onoare-alacademiei-romane-la-93-de-ani/ ), am salutat şi apariţia unei noi valoroase cărţi (apărută la Editura “Universul juridic”), tot cu un titlu edificator: “ELOGIUL ADEVĂRULUI.” Am reamintit cu acest prilej că: “Recunoscut pentru modestie, corectitudine, bun simţ, inteligenţă, gândire clară cu un sistem de valori bine conturat, Profesorul Vasile Stănescu a servit şi serveşte ca model intelectual de-a lungul şi de-a latul comunităţii şi diferenţelor individuale. Domnia Sa a confirmat şi confirmă că oamenii înţelepţi cooperează cu crizele şi cu obstacolele întâlnite în viaţa lor, fiind apţi de a lua decizii în probleme de viaţă dificile şi incerte. Profesorul Vasile Stănescu, Membru de Onoare al Academiei Române, este, după cum am mai avut onoarea şi bucuria de a spune şi a scrie, un adevărat exemplu de urmat pentru cel puţin trei motive: calităţi umane indiscutabile; calitate a muncii ştiinţifice, coerenţă şi metodă ştiinţifică; persistenţa convingerilor specifice celui dedicat unui ţel nobil.”

Într-adevăr, recunoştinţa, ca memorie a inimii, ca act de justiţie, conferă un sens trecutului, îmbogăţeşte prezentul şi creează o viziune pentru ziua de mâine. Nu întâmplător am pledat la începutul lunii aprilie 2020 pentru nevoia de cultură, de cugetări temeinice şi acte eroice.

Theodor Purcărea