Hybrid HCAI - A Thought Experiment on the Ultimate Symbiosis of Human and Artificial Intelligence A Positive Future Scenario for Artificial Intelligence in Business and Society

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) contrasts with the limited understanding of its economic, organizational, and societal impacts. This paper develops a conceptual model of Hybrid Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (Hybrid-HCAI), proposing that AI should complement rather than replicate or replace human intelligence. The model integrates three complementary forms of intelligence: subsymbolic AI, symbolic AI, and human intelligence. Subsymbolic AI handles pattern recognition, forecasting, classification, and generation, while symbolic AI represents explicit knowledge, rules, causal relationships, norms, and governance structures. Human intelligence contributes contextual understanding, creativity, intuition, value judgments, social competence, and responsibility. The symbolic layer additionally mediates and regulates interactions between human and machine intelligence, functioning as a “social operating system” for coordination. The paper derives a theoretical impact model focusing on productivity, organizational agility, innovation, structural stability, and cultural integrity. Participation, reciprocity, fairness, trust, and recognition of cognitive contributions serve as key mediators and design variables. The study proposes empirically testable hypotheses and an interdisciplinary research agenda, positioning Hybrid-HCAI as a conceptual research program rather than a validated technology.