EPOCH SCORE

 Here's a concise summary of the MIT Sloan paper:

📄 “The EPOCH of AI: Human–Machine Complementarities at Work”

by Isabella Loaiza & Roberto Rigobon, 2024

🧠 What Is the EPOCH Index?

EPOCH is a human-centric framework designed to identify which human skills are least likely to be replaced by AI and most likely to be augmented by it.

🔤 EPOCH stands for:

Letter Human Capability

E Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

P Presence, Networking, and Connectedness

O Opinion, Judgment, and Ethics

C Creativity and Imagination

H Hope, Vision, and Leadership

These 5 clusters are considered core human attributes that AI cannot easily replicate.

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📊 What Did the Paper Do?

The researchers evaluated hundreds of job tasks using three main metrics:

1. 🧠 EPOCH Score

How strongly the task depends on those uniquely human qualities.

2. ⚠️ Risk of Substitution

How easily the task could be replaced by AI.

3. 🔄 Potential for Augmentation

How well the task could be enhanced or supported by AI, without full replacement.

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🔍 How Did They Analyze Tasks?

They used data from the O*NET database (by the U.S. Department of Labor).

O*NET breaks down every job into individual work activities (IWAs).

Each IWA (e.g., “teach others,” “resolve conflict,” “repair machinery”) was scored based on:

Its EPOCH alignment

AI substitution risk (via LLM capabilities)

Potential for augmentation

💼 What Were the Findings?

1. Jobs with High EPOCH Scores are less likely to be automated.

Examples:

Therapists, Teachers, Social Workers, CEOs

Roles requiring leadership, empathy, ethical decision-making.

2. Jobs with Low EPOCH but High Technical Skills are more likely to be replaced.

Examples:

Data entry, basic coding, routine analysis.

3. AI augments human roles better when the task involves EPOCH skills.

AI can support, but not replace human leadership, emotional connection, and vision.

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💡 Key Insight

> "The future of work isn't about competing with AI, but complementing it by emphasizing what makes us human."

🎯 Summary in 1 Sentence

The EPOCH index helps identify human capabilities that are least automatable, guiding workers and companies to invest in skills that AI can't easily replace—and shows how AI can be used to support rather than substitute us.