Recent research from the Warwick Business School and The BCG Henderson Institute, suggests that AI can provide useful results if tested under real life conditions.
The team of researchers discovered that “AI could indeed be valuable in guiding and enriching executive discussions, but only with actively engaged management.” In other words, AI can be useful if it’s augmented by a human advisor who’s capable of developing strategies. That doesn’t mean this person (or persons) needs to have special knowledge of the firm.
The experiment found two benefits from AI:
1) It challenged existing patterns of thought; and
2) It sped up post-meeting research (and cost).
Let’s start with the second point first.
Boardroom and executive meetings are brainstorming sessions that trigger research. After the meetings end, the research begins, which often means hiring a team of management consultants or data experts to investigate and excavate for answers. While AI can fill this need (or at least augment the task), they discovered it also can provide an illusion of completeness.
We can only assume the accuracy and the completeness of AI prompts will continue to improve in the future, but there’s another risk I fear could happen: board members become addicted to the dopamine that AI generates and lose sight of their personal feelings, histories, and the relationships that guided their respective organizations to their current stations.
Every successful organization experiences dips in performance, or at the very least, moments of contention, stress, and the unknown. Blind faith alone won’t scale your startup, but how many companies got to where they are today thanks to a few passionate individuals who remained stoic and determined?
As for the first point, I think AI does have enormous potential to serve as the contrarian, or at the very least, “the unconventional thinker” in the room. Ideally, those powerful few at the table should consist of people who aren’t afraid to openly discuss and debate key decisions, but clearly personalities and relationships can impact those discussions because we’re all human.
I think ultimately though, the teams that will thrive in the future will be the ones that understand that AI (like social media) is designed to keep us coming back for more. You have to unplug, step away, and let some problems sit longer than a 30 minute Teams call.
If you’re going to give AI a seat at the table, I’d suggest at least for now, make it a booster seat.