AI is a powerful tool – but leadership is uniquely human
Much of humanity’s greatest endeavors continue to defy the imagination, millennia later. The ingenuity of the pyramids, the Mayan temples, the Great Wall of China, remain as awe-inspiring today as they did when they were built thousands of years ago.
The human industry required to build these wonders of the world is itself remarkable. Yet it is the power of the idea that endures. The construction of these sites were finite moments in history. The creative magic they delivered is infinite. Who awakes one day and decides to create something so extraordinary that it can inspire billions for centuries?
The scale of such imagination might seem incredible, but it should not. Human history is a timeline of ideas that have come true. Imagination, ideas and innovation are decidedly human. The key is to make space for them. The Egyptians used sleds, levers and ramps to build the pyramids. Unaided manpower was insufficient. Technology was the tool that helped humans turn their imaginations into reality.
Democratization of work
The notion that ancient civilizations would fear the equipment that enabled them seems outlandish. Not only do machines make invention easier, they democratize it. Without the right tools, only Hercules could move boulders up mountains. Technology makes millions capable of the task.
Today, in the era of AI, the tools and the technology has changed – yet the democratization principle persists. A salutary example comes from the financial sector. Until recently, chief executives decreed that only people who could code be recruited to key technical positions. This requirement shrunk the labor pool such that countless candidates were excluded, no matter how talented. The imaginations of thousands could never be tapped – because they lacked a single skill. Not any more. AI means that much coding can be done by machines. Suddenly, the industry can access the creative ideas of a cohort that was previously unavailable.
This dynamic applies to almost every sector. There is scarcely an industry which AI will leave untouched. Its arrival will be transformative. By freeing humans from routine work, it will leave space for new ideas to flourish. The key is to learn to work with it as a cherished colleague, not a rival.
The role of leadership
This presents a challenge to leaders. The sheer power of AI – present and future – risks blinding us to the key job at hand. The outstanding processing, analytical, and generative capabilities of AI are already stupefying. But we will go nowhere if we stand aside and look in wonderment while the world moves past our eyes.
Executives must consider their own role in a world of rapid technological advance. When machines can code themselves, our being able to code is superfluous. When robots can manage a budget, our budgeting skills are unnecessary. When algorithms can schedule, our diary skills become redundant. Yet taking AI on at its own game is futile. Rather, we must think – now – about how our human strengths can enhance our working relationship with technology. AI is designed by humans, for humans, yet it lacks essential human qualities, such as empathy, compassion, intuition, sound ethical behavior, and respect for diversity and inclusivity. These are the bedrocks of trust – and the core qualities of leadership.
The benefits of an open relationship with AI are many and various. Just as the advance of technology has democratized who can do the work, it has also expanded where the work can be done. High-value industry remains focused in the Global North, in the most powerful economies on Earth. Yet AI can rapidly widen its scope. Leaders who can harness its power as a business enabler can open their enterprises to new territories – such as Africa – which might lack infrastructure but are overflowing with human imagination.
Tools of the trade
Generative AI is itself no more a threat to jobs than the smartphone, the personal computer, or the wheel. What is threatened are humans that – either through stubbornness or fear – reject the new tool while others learn to use it. AI is a super-tool. It is leaders’ new superpower. Those who ignore it will struggle to survive, but those who embrace it will thrive.
The paradox of the digital age is that humans generate value by being more human. Many of the challenges of our time are ethical dilemmas: social, environmental and geopolitical problems where every solution is a matter of judgment as much as fact. Those challenges are the domain of ethical, human leadership. They cannot be addressed by AI.
Be more human
For all its spectacular power, AI has limits. We can convince ourselves that machines have a sense of context, are socially aware, almost human. They are not. Ethics, social awareness and responsibility remain the preserve of human leaders, with AI by their side. It is here, at the nexus of technology and humanity, that enduring trust will be built. Leadership today calls for a new balance, blending technological savvy with an abiding commitment to all that is great in the human spirit.
Dr Sharmla Chetty is chief executive of Duke Corporate Education