[CGP_Labs]

Considering AI's strengths and weaknesses, it makes sense that upper management—whose job often involves making decisions based on data and established practices—may be easier to replace with AI than frontline or essential workers, who constantly have to adapt to unpredictable situations.

But if competing companies all start using AI to make similarly rational decisions, it will become much harder to gain an edge through rationality alone. In the end, perhaps the real role of leadership is not to choose what AI considers the optimal decision, but to take responsibility for making unique bets—ones that may have a lower chance of success but offer the potential for much greater rewards.

[runamuck]

I worked for five companies in two years about a decade ago (Pre retail Gen-AI). All of them had the exact same mission slide deck. Same goals, same priorities, same strategy.

[CGP_Labs]

Same here. It makes me wonder if many companies are optimizing for the same “rational” answers, and the real advantage comes from asking different questions.

[CSMastermind]

> whose job often involves making decisions based on data and established practices

That's what middle management does, your C-suite has an entirely different function.

[CGP_Labs]

Fair point — I may have blurred the line between middle management and C-suite. Though if my CEO has been doing middle management all this time, I might have some questions for him. My broader point was that structured decision-making is easier to automate than vision, direction, and taking responsibility for uncertain bets.

[DrScientist]

Perhaps you've watched too many classic StarTrek episodes as a child and are channelling the Spock versus Kirk leadership theme.

[CGP_Labs]

Haha, fair point. Maybe I am channeling a bit of Kirk vs. Spock. But I think the interesting question is whether AI can ever make the kind of irrational-but-successful bets that great leaders sometimes make.

[DrScientist]

While the Shatner portrayal of Kirk is hard not to like, I was always slightly irritated by the recurring transparent theme of gut winning over reason ( but then I became a scientist ).

Though not sure 'irrational' is the right term - perhaps the willingness to take a decision without all the data, because doing something is more important than being completely right. Or the willingness to do something new based on personal judgement.

Take the classic example - the iPhone - I suspect pretty much everybody working on the project, who saw the working prototypes knew it was great - 'you had me at scrolling' etc.

Could AI have predict that emotional response to the product in advance? Dunno.

[neutronicus]

I think the main strength of the AI is just that its schedule is not a constraint.

Anyone can get a decision now-ish, without filtering through tiers of middle management.

[CGP_Labs]

Exactly. It’s funny — Japan once had a famous slogan, "Can you work 24 hours a day?" We were asking humans to become machines. Now AI is the one that can actually do it.