Every industry has blind spots. Sometimes the problem is not a lack of expertise, or even information, but of connection.

While in Austin, Texas, at a recent Octave Live OnTour event, sitting in a large room filled with people from different industries, different methods, different states, different companies, one thing became immediately apparent to me: Despite their differences, they were wrestling with many of the same problems. One of the problems? Connecting meaningful and accurate data to fill in the quality gaps.

When I talk about gaps, I’m not necessarily talking about gaps in training or understanding. Sometimes it’s not the lack of knowledge or expertise that kills quality. In this case—and indeed in many cases—it’s the disconnect between what needs to be accomplished and the tools needed to do that. Are there enough cameras to monitor every part of a tunnel project? Are there enough data points mapped out to complete an accurate projection for a stakeholder? Do you have the personnel available to not just plan and develop a product, but evaluate and test it as well? That’s where Octave’s keynote speakers and panelists came through.

With all the talk of AI, many people have pointed out the obvious concern: If you have software that can do the job, won’t you hire fewer people? It would seem you could. People are expensive. They require time and training and benefits and vacations. They require feedback and reviews and checks and management. But then again, they also monitor and audit the work done by software. We are all essential workers from that standpoint.

Octave CEO Mattias Stenberg, in his pragmatic yet charismatic style, broke it down further. AI is there to give us the tools we need to anticipate, audit, build, and develop, but people are there to imagine, to check, to regulate, and to connect these AI tools. AI, when used correctly, should magnify human potential and create a need for more of it. We should, he said, be hiring more people—not fewer.

But there’s the rub: AI used correctly. And who decides what is correct?

Octave is paving the way for not only technological achievements that will be groundbreaking in the industrial sense, but also in the human sense. Octave is looking at how machine-generated abilities and human abilities can commingle in a way that’s productive, expansive, safe, ethical, and promising.

That’s a tall order. But it’s not impossible.

A panel of workers from different industries took the stage. They described different problems, needs, and logistical considerations. Using Octave’s connected AI capabilities, all were given advantages that enabled greater data analysis, instant updates across departments, and on-the-ground changes as a result of more accurate information shared between multiple teams.

In each instance, they had problems that required not only human analysis or AI surveillance and data gathering, but those efforts combined. For example, once multiple cameras captured data and AI tools showed that to a team, it was up to the team members to delve into the information to determine what was relevant, what needed to be elevated, and how to prioritize and delegate tasks as needed. For this, more employees were needed, not fewer.

A key concern—and a very real one—has been that AI will replace workers. While it should replace some work, this model contradicted that claim and instead surprised many (including myself) in the audience. Not only did AI provide the opportunity for more jobs in this instance, but it also ensured that a greater level of care be taken to enable AI to work properly in the task to which people were already assigned. So more people with more help became a higher quality, higher capability task force. Although it’s naïve to think this will be the case in every company or industry, Octave is setting the stage for responsible and exceptional use of a tool with admittedly little legislative preparation.

This is by no means an endorsement of AI in general, or a critique on how or where it’s used. But as someone with a job that is threatened (daily) by the rampant insistence that “you can just use AI” to write, it’s reassuring to see the brightest and best insist that no, you can’t. At least not responsibly. As Stenberg puts it, AI is there to be the tool that reduces workload and magnifies the capabilities of experts—not as a replacement, but as an assistant.

In an age where people are asking questions about AI’s role in shaping industries, Octave is asking how each industry will shape AI to better serve people. That’s a distinction worth making, and the results are paying off. To learn more about the specific ways in which Octave is making strides to augment human potential with AI tools, read these interviews with a few of Octave’s experts.