If used correctly, AI can strengthen, not stifle, the human spirit in organizations.
I doubt my children have ever had to use one.
Today, most people use digital navigation tools like Google Maps. These tools are made with geolocation data, which pinpoints your current location using signals from, e.g., satellites or Wi-Fi networks.
Similarly, adding or multiplying large numbers used to require considerable brain power and perhaps a pencil and a piece of paper. Today, most people rely on calculators or apps, which allow for faster and (often) more precise calculations.
How does this affect us as humans?
Does using digital tools impact our brains and potentially alter our natural ability to find our way and add numbers on our own?
Many people, educators, and politicians feared that introducing the calculator in the classroom would make students lazy and hamper their development of arithmetic skills.
However, the evidence and experience do not seem to support this fear. When used appropriately, calculators become a powerful tool for fostering mathematical and conceptual understanding, thereby augmenting rather than replacing mental methods.
But if we use calculators merely as substitutes for simple tasks — which is often the case — we fail to unlock their full potential. And we may risk to slowly lose the ability to add or multiply numbers naturally.
The advantages of AI
Like the calculator, we can use AI to augment our business processes.
AI can take on repetitive, data-heavy tasks, enabling us to focus on other areas of higher value —areas that require judgment, decision-making, creativity, and social insight. And AI can enable us to investigate and analyze more complex problems than ever before.
We have already seen how AI can process massive data sets, perform rapid calculations, and identify potential trends within seconds. That means consultants can move past the time-consuming task of gathering data to focus on advisory tasks that require a deeper understanding of organizations. AI delivers the input, and the consultant’s experience provides the solution.
Take, for example, leadership training. With the help of AI, data can be quickly gathered, providing managers with insights into how a team performs. Yet, decisions on how to adapt leadership styles, improve team dynamics, or address specific employee needs should still lie firmly in human hands, guided by empathy and understanding.
Similarly, in law, AI can review thousands of documents in seconds, highlighting the essentials in a case. Yet, it’s still the lawyer’s responsibility to interpret these findings while considering the client’s needs and, on behalf of this, provide guidance based on ethical principles.
The beauty of simple tasks
Just like with the calculator, we can use AI to augment our business processes. We can make them faster, and we can analyze and understand more complex things.
However, although tempting as it may seem, there is also a risk in letting digital tools perform the simple and repetitive tasks.
If we only use AI to avoid these tasks and to free up time for Tetris, we risk becoming less capable — just as we would if we used calculators to simply skip learning how to multiply numbers.
And there is also a beauty in simple tasks. As the adage goes, you have to learn to walk before you can run. Small wins offer an immediate sense of achievement and mastery!
Imagine a ladder with the lower rungs missing because AI has taken over the basic tasks. How can people climb up to the higher levels, where the complex challenges are, if they have never stood securely at the start and practiced the first, basic steps of a certain skill?
If we let AI deny us access to those first steps, how do we then avoid a world in which people lose the ability to develop the skills needed to tackle more advanced tasks? Replacing entry-level tasks with AI may actually require us to rethink our current talent development models.
I am not saying it can’t be done and that we should forego the use of AI. We managed to use the calculator to climb the stairs of that ladder – although perhaps not as efficiently as we could have. We can do that again.
By using AI thoughtfully and understanding both the possibilities AI creates and its limitations, companies can support talents to better achievements, investing in each of their unique potential.
In this way can AI become the tool that supports, complements and empowers talents, leadership, and organizations rather than the cloud that overshadows them.
Forfatter spotlight
Nikolaj Malchow-Møller
Nikolaj Malchow-Møller, Head of People & Purpose Nikolaj er leder af Deloitte Danmarks People & Purpose og en del af koncernledelsen. Nikolaj brænder for udvikling af mennesker i ”det læredygtige samfund” og står i spidsen for at udvikle Deloitte Danmarks program for livslang læring. Han drømmer om at skabe en arbejdsplads, hvor en diversitet af talenter kan udvikle sig professionelt og personligt i inspirerende, inkluderende og trygge rammer gennem hele deres arbejdsliv. Han har over 25 års erfaring med ledelse, forskning og udvikling af talenter, herunder som rektor for Copenhagen Business School og som professor i nationaløkonomi.