IFKAD 2027 proposes “The Ecology of Knowledge in the AI Era” as the lens for examining this transformation. Using ecology as a lens of inquiry highlights knowledge as an ecosystem. It is a dynamic resource and a source of value creation, characterised by an interdependent system of assets populated by human minds, organisational routines, relations, cultural artefacts, and, increasingly, artificial agents. Within such an ecosystem, organisational health and wealth creation depend on diversity, balance, symbiosis, and the quality of relationships among its constituent components. An ecosystem can flourish or degrade; it can sustain a rich plurality of species or collapse into monoculture; it can be cultivated with care or exploited to exhaustion. The same, we argue, holds true for organisational knowledge in the age of AI.

The ecology of knowledge in the AI era suggests that technology cannot be considered neutral: it takes on the characteristics of those who design, finance, regulate, and use it. Applied to management, organisational development, and technology design, this observation invites broader reflection informed by the notion of integral ecology, according to which the technological, human, and moral dimensions of organisational life cannot be governed in isolation. A knowledge ecosystem that optimises for efficiency while eroding human judgement, creativity, or dignity is not, by this view, a healthy ecosystem, however productive it may appear in the short term. IFKAD 2027 places this insight at the core of knowledge management as an engine of sustainable organisational wealth creation, focusing on the vital question: how can organisations design, govern, and sustain knowledge ecosystems in which artificial intelligence and human intelligence do not merely coexist but genuinely co-create value?

More info at IFKAD Conference Webpage.

Photo: Matera (Basilicata, Italy) - The old town viewed from the parvise of Saint Augustin church. By Benjamin Smith - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,