Your mind has a mind of its own. As you go about your day its busy making thousands of decisions for you, without you even realising. This is because the majority of our decisions are unconscious – on an average day we make a reported 35,000 of them.

How many times do you think about food each day? When asked, most people guess around 14. The reality is that it’s closer to 220. Every time the smell of fresh bread wafts out of a bakery and you walk straight past, your unconscious mind has made a decision for you.

The H+K Smarter team, working with global technology giant Huawei, was interested in exploring the relationship between this seemingly invisible capacity of the human brain and artificial intelligence.

Like human intelligence, artificial intelligence typically operates in the background, without us knowing. Coinciding with the launch of the new Huawei Mate 10 Series smartphones – featuring an AI processor – H+K Smarter created research exploring the relationship between the potential of the human brain and artificial intelligence.

We asked 10,000 people across Europe how many decisions they think they make every day, and the time they spend on typical routine activities, and compared participant answers to true figures. The results highlighting just how much of what we do is decided unconsciously.

How many times a day do you check your phone? Research participants reported between 9 and 29, but the actual answer is an average of 76 times. While we think we only spend 113 minutes on work emails every week, the actual total is more than ten times that, at a massive 22 hours a week.

Why is so much of what we think and do unconscious? The make-up of our brain means we only have so much capacity within our conscious more reflective brain, so we have to use this energy carefully. Whereas, there is phenomenally greater capacity within our more automatic unconscious brain. This is why anything, such as AI, that helps us ration this energy can make an impact on our day-to-day.

This behavioural science research provided a fascinating insight into people and how their brains work, as well as a unique human + technology platform for the brand. The research, “AI and Humans: Great Minds Think Alike”, was launched at London’s Saatchi Gallery, with behavioural scientist and author Paul Dolan, from the London School of Economics.

For more information about our H+K Smarter team might be able to work with you and your brand, you can read more about our team here, or get in contact with us today. Our team works on all behavioural science challenges, from changing behavior, ‘nudge’ communications and, the creation of bespoke thought leadership providing unique platform of human insight.

Authored by Thea Knight