Augmented Humans is an EU funded project (MSCA-IF-2020, grant agreement No 101023024) is managed by Dr. Marigo Raftopoulos, and supervised by Professor Juho Hamari, Tampere University, Finland.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the fourth industrial revolution and is steadily disrupting traditional business models, workplace practices and performance management. Despite the astonishing rate of progress with AI technology, problems and challenges in the current business environment cannot be solved by machines alone and require robust human-machine hybrid solutions.

However, these are still largely experimental with limited business adoption. A further challenge is that European business investment in AI applications has been sub-optimal due to limited capability and know-how and this has recently been identified by the EU Commission as a key focus area for co-ordinated action and investment.

To address the challenges of the efficacy of human-machine interactions and scale of AI adoption, the Augmented-Humans project will investigate how we can use game-based technologies (games, gamification, virtual, augmented and mixed reality) as mediators of engaging interactions and problem solving between human and machine that generate data, develop meaningful insights, facilitate business problem solving, and aid both human and machine learning.

The outputs of this project will include the development of reusable game-based technology and participatory design toolkits and applications for

1. Business systems for end-user engagement, stakeholder collaboration and robust decision support systems;
2. AI engineering and data science in utilising game-based technologies for data generation, machine learning, and developing human-machine collaboration systems for problem solving (e.g. ‘citizen science’ games), and;
3. Public engagement applications that engage the public with AI meta issues of usability, awareness, trust, ethics and civic participation.

The project outcomes of Augmented-Humans are aimed towards improving the efficacy of AI applications and make them more human-centred, ethical, and accessible to business and community stakeholders in Europe.