KM’s Evolution in the Age of AI

Ben Clinch, Chief Data Officer & Partner, Ortecha, opened the KMWorld Europe and Taxonomy Boot Camp London conferences by taking a no nonsense view of AI and human limitations in regard to knowledge management.

Prevailing narratives about AI vary from the apocalyptic, as espoused by Nobel Prize laureate nicknamed “The Godfather of AI”, to the more nuanced. Hinton’s response to a recent question about job survival in the AI era was to train as a plumber. But Clinch quoted Jevon’s paradox: When technology makes something cheaper or faster, we don’t use less of it, we use more.

Clinch emphasized that the neural networks, deep learning, and machine learning that underly generative AI try to model human intelligence but human thinking is not always accurate. Plus, models don’t work well during a time of rapid, accelerating change.

We gain knowledge, he said, in three ways: through direct perception, which is gained through direct sensory experience of real world; through testimony, which is received from trustworthy source; and through inference, knowledge derived through logical reasoning and deduction. He then reviewed what he called the ten Cs that AI can’t fake, which he often referred to as problems. They are curation, critical thinking, context, compression, consistency, consumption, codification/classification, corruption, control/accountability, and compassion.

KMers need to remember that we must be intentional. Neuro-symbolic AI combines probabilistic and deterministic modalities using the analogy of the human brain. He urged us not to completely believe the hype around AI. We’re a long way from being safely autonomous. Thus, the skills inherent in KM and taxonomy are going to be in demand for a very long time. AI can be a great ally in our mission as knowledge managers. Our roles will evolve but are more needed than ever. We must build the future we want.

The KMWorld Europe and Taxonomy Boot Camp London held 14-15 April 2026 in London UK, brings KMWorld to London for the first time and returns the in-person Taxonomy Boot Camp to the city.

The KMWorld conference returns to the JW Marriott in Washington D.C. on November 17-20, 2026  https://www.kmworld.com/Conference/2026.

KMWorld 2026 is a part of a unique program of five co-located conferences, which also includes Enterprise Search & Discovery, Enterprise AI World, Taxonomy Boot Camp, and Text Analytics Forum.