ISB–Kellogg Joint Research Initiative: Prof Matthew Groh Talks About His Research Visit to ISB

Why It Matters

AI‑enhanced soft‑skill training can rapidly upscale entrepreneurship education in India, reshaping labor supply and future work dynamics.

Key Takeaways

• AI acts as a “black box” or internet zip file.
• AI can deliver empathetic communication, enhancing human feeling of being heard.
• Research aims to augment, not replace, human soft‑skill coaching with AI.
• ISB collaboration applies AI coaching insights to Indian entrepreneurship training.
• LinkedIn labor data will gauge AI’s impact on future work dynamics.

Summary

Prof. Matthew Groh of Kellogg’s Human‑AI Collaboration Lab visited ISB to discuss a joint research initiative that explores AI’s role as a “shape shifter” – likened to a black‑box or a zip file of the internet – and its capacity for empathetic communication.

The team’s core insight is that AI can make users feel heard, validated, and affirmed, prompting a shift from automating empathy to augmenting human soft‑skill coaching. By integrating this framework with ISB faculty work—particularly Professor Lena’s training of female entrepreneurs—the collaboration aims to tailor AI‑driven coaching to the Indian context. Additionally, researchers plan to merge LinkedIn job‑search and labor‑demand data to map how AI reshapes supply‑demand dynamics.

Groh highlighted cultural immersion as a source of fresh perspectives, noting his visit to Hyderabad’s 500‑year‑old Golakonda Fort. He remarked that “cultures are different, and those differences reveal new key insights about the kind of work you’re doing,” underscoring the importance of local context in technology design.

If successful, AI‑augmented coaching could scale entrepreneurship and soft‑skill development across India, influencing labor market readiness and shaping the future of work in an AI‑driven economy.

Original Description

We were pleased to welcome Matthew Groh, Assistant Professor of Management and Organisations from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management, to ISB, as part of ISB-Kellogg Joint Research Initiative.

In this video, Prof. Groh highlights his collaboration with ISB faculty and researchers on AI-enabled coaching, entrepreneurship training, and the future of work. He also shares his perspectives on how AI can support empathic communication and augment human skills rather than replace them.

Prof Groh’s research focuses on AI adoption and the dynamics of human-AI collaboration in deepfake detection, medical diagnosis, and empathic communication. His research has been published in Science, Proceedings on National Academy of Science (PNAS), Nature Medicine, Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Communications, NeurIPS, Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), Affective Computing and Intelligence Interactions (ACII), and Communications of the ACM.

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