The buzz around AI has been almost deafening since the launch of the openAI platform ChatGPT. It managed to get over 100 million users within as few as three months. Global media and everyone in the business world are discussing the opportunities and dangers of ChatGPT and similar AI applications and their implications for our working environment in the future.
“How will AI affect leadership, and will AI replace leadership jobs?” All valid questions.
The single important task of people in leadership positions is DECISION-MAKING.
To what extent could AI replace leaders by making better decisions than humans?
Let’s see what ChatGPT has to say about this:
“Hey ChatGPT, how do you make decisions?”
ChatGPT (adjusted to keep it short):
“As an AI language model, I don't possess personal preferences or consciousness, so I don't make decisions in the same way humans do. However, I can explain the general process of decision-making used in AI systems like mine.
1. Input: I receive input in the form of a question, prompt, or context.
2. Data and training: My responses are generated based on patterns and knowledge learned from a large dataset of text.
3. Comprehension: I analyze the input to understand the context, intent, and relevant information.
4. Generating possibilities: Based on the understanding of the input, I generate multiple possible responses or solutions to the given problem.
5. Scoring and selection: Each generated possibility is assigned a score or probability.
6. Output: Finally, I provide the response or output with the highest score or probability as the most suitable answer or solution based on the input provided.
It's important to note that while AI models like me strive to provide accurate and helpful responses, there can be limitations and potential biases in the training data or the understanding of context. It's always advisable to critically evaluate and verify information from multiple sources.”
Great, so for rational decision-making, AI has a solid process, AND it immediately mentions the two elements that make leaders irreplaceable; humans have personal preferences and consciousness, which is the ability to have thoughts, perceptions, and feelings.
People are not rational decision-makers. We are emotional decision-makers. Our thoughts, emotions, and sense of intuition guide our decisions.
Exceptional leaders are not being paid to make decisions based solely on past data and experiences (AI seems a better option for that). We are paid to create visions of the future that keep our organizations ahead of the curve and to work on ideas and strategies that are new, inventive, revolutionary, and groundbreaking.
Leaders should not be busy conserving their job. We want to practice conserving our energy and staying focused and clear-minded to access high-quality thinking and decision-making to direct our future and create unprecedented opportunities for our organizations.