The Last Mile: Why Analytics Matters More in an AI-Driven World

As AI capabilities expand, a common assumption takes hold: that analytics will gradually be absorbed into automated systems, with human analysts playing a diminishing role. This session challenges that assumption. AI excels at pattern detection, summarization, and prediction at scale; but analytics provides something AI cannot automate. Verification against business context, interpretation for stakeholders, accountability for decisions, and iteration based on feedback remain irreducibly human contributions. Analytics is not being replaced; it is being repositioned as the last mile of insight. The session examines how the relationship between AI and analytics is shifting. AI handles volume and velocity; analytics supplies judgment and meaning. Organizations that understand this complementarity can design workflows where AI accelerates the routine while analysts focus on the consequential. Those who misunderstand it risk automating the wrong things: optimizing speed while losing the interpretive depth that makes data valuable. Drawing on research into how AI affects analysts of varying skill levels, the session also addresses a differential effect: experienced analysts often find AI amplifies their creativity and productivity, while less experienced staff may feel threatened or displaced. This has implications for hiring, training, and team design that analytics leaders cannot afford to ignore. Key Takeaways: - AI and analytics serve complementary functions; substitution narratives misread the opportunity. - Verification, interpretation, accountability, and iteration remain human responsibilities - Experienced analysts benefit disproportionately from AI augmentation; organizations must design for this differential. - The strategic value of analytics increases, not decreases, as AI capabilities expand.