The Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard and Microsoft Launch Accelerated AI Research Initiative Mapping the Journey from AI Promise to Enterprise Performance

Harvard Business School faculty, in collaboration with Microsoft and its clients, will study human-AI work, publish evidence-based blueprints, and deliver custom workshops for executives to rapidly reinvent global businesses as Frontier Firms; Eli Lilly and Company, EY, Lumen Technologies, and Nestlé among 14 organizations in the inaugural cohort.

BOSTON, Nov. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Faculty at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard today announced the launch of the Frontier Firm AI Initiative, a collaboration with Microsoft and its clients that aims to deepen understanding and accelerate the practice of building Frontier Firms. As defined by the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, Frontier Firms are human led, agent operated organizations that put AI at the core of their strategy to transform operations, accelerate innovation, and amplify human capacity. The research into the journey of Frontier Firms will be a catalyst for redefining long-held paradigms of work. Hosted by the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, this Initiative will develop applied research on human-AI collaboration, upskill global C-suite leadership, and deliver new insights and tools to disrupt conventional business thinking.

The Chair of Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard and Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS), Karim Lakhani, will be joined with fellow HBS faculty members Iavor Bojinov, Rafaella Sadun, Rem Koning, Shunyuan Zhang, and Kadeem Noray to drive forward the portfolio of experiments. Their efforts will focus in five key areas: future-state operating models for effective human-AI collaboration in core business functions, agent boss (an initial management theory for AI agents), agentic workflows, building a Frontier Firm radar based on AI-native startups, and the effect of new technologies on firm demands for skills and labor.

"Executives that go all in on AI without a clear path forward risk falling into a frustrating cycle of pilots that don't deliver value and have no impact," said Lakhani. "With this Initiative, we are collaborating with trailblazing organizations who are pushing the limits of agentic AI to deliver value to their customers, reimagine work patterns, reinvent operations, and generate new business models. Together in collaboration with Microsoft and its customers, we aim to create rigorous, evidence-based blueprints for high-performing human-AI workplaces, bridging the gap between ambition and true competitive advantage."

Jared Spataro, Chief Marketing Officer, AI at Work at Microsoft articulated, "It's no longer a question of 'if' AI is right for business—leaders today are grappling with 'how' to become a Frontier Firm. This Frontier Firm AI Initiative is addressing a critical gap in the marketplace, giving leaders the education and practical tools they need to help their people and organizations navigate this transformation."

The inaugural cohort of organizations embarking on the path to become Frontier Firms include Barclays, BNY, Clifford Chance, DuPont, Eaton, Eli Lilly and Company, EY, GHD, Kantar, Levi Strauss & Co., Lumen Technologies, Mastercard, Nestlé, and others. Organizations will participate in large-scale field-based experiments in AI that explore AI-first work patterns as well as participate in custom workshops that translate the results of the research into practical guidelines for organizations innovating their operating models with AI.

"AI has given business new ways to create value and a thousand new ways to get lost doing it.," said Jen Stave, the founding Director of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard Business School. "Academia's role is to chart the tide so leaders can navigate with more reliable information about the surrounding environment. We're grateful for our organizational relationships, which make it possible to curate this knowledge at a moment when best practices are urgently needed yet still unwritten". 

To learn more about the Frontier Firm AI Initiative, visit: https://d3.harvard.edu/frontier-firm-ai-initiative/.

About Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard
The Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard (D^3) provides research-driven insights, accessible to anyone in the world, on using AI and digital technologies to advance business and society. Emerging from Harvard Business School under the leadership of Dean Srikant Datar and founded on the premise that AI technology is only half of the answer and that businesses must also revamp their processes to harness AI's potential, D^3 is made up of a global network of multidisciplinary faculty, researchers and scientists, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit d3.harvard.edu.

SOURCE Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard