---
id: "quote-inventing-the-future"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ A Tale of Two J-Curves"]
tags: ["strategy", "innovation"]
related: ["concept-ai-augmentation-strategy", "concept-ai-automation-strategy"]
speaker: "Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Kate Niederhoffer"
speakers: ["Jan-Emmanuel De Neve", "Jeffrey T. Hancock", "Kate Niederhoffer"]
quote: "Augmentation is about inventing the future rather than automating the past."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-ext-19-augmentation-over-automation"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/why-companies-that-choose-ai-augmentation-over-automation-may-win-in-the-long-run"
sourceTitle: "Why Companies That Choose AI Augmentation Over Automation May Win in the Long Run"
---
# Inventing the Future vs. Automating the Past

> "Augmentation is about inventing the future rather than automating the past."
> — [[entity-jan-emmanuel-de-neve|Jan-Emmanuel De Neve]], [[entity-jeffrey-t-hancock|Jeffrey T. Hancock]], and [[entity-kate-niederhoffer|Kate Niederhoffer]] (§ A Tale of Two J-Curves)

**Context.** The article's one-line distillation of the strategic fork: [[concept-ai-augmentation-strategy-d1|augmentation]] reimagines value creation, while [[concept-ai-automation-strategy|automation]] merely speeds up the existing model — the framing behind the two shapes of [[concept-micro-j-curve|the Micro Productivity J-Curve]].