How AI-Human Symbiotes May Reinvent Innovation and What the New Centaurs Will Mean for Cities

The aim of the paper is to propose a new hypothesis related to the contribution to innovation processes through human-AI symbiotes. These symbiotes are called centaurs, referring to the world of chess. The first section provides some speculative thoughts starting with current knowledge and observation on AI to point to the possible implication of symbiotic learning. The second section investigates what the consequences of the “centaur hypothesis” could be in terms of innovation capacities and innovation processes. The third section considers an atypical field of realization of innovations called municipal innovations so far. Finally, the conclusion addresses the limitations of this speculative exercise.