AI Doesn’t Need More Leaders. It Needs Better Leadership.

1. Beyond Tools, Productivity, and Noise

There is a lot of excitement around AI right now. There is also a lot of noise.

Every week there seems to be another tool, another model and another prediction about which jobs will disappear next.

But after years of leading technology change, I find myself asking a different question: What kind of organisation are we trying to become with AI?

2. Technology Without Judgement

AI can make us faster. It can automate work. It can help people make better decisions. But none of those things automatically make an organisation better.

Technology without judgement can simply make us do the wrong thing faster.

That is why I believe the next generation of technology leadership will be less about knowing every new AI tool and more about knowing where AI should - and should not - be used.

Stanford's human-centred AI work makes a similar case: AI should augment human capability and improve human outcomes, rather than being treated simply as an autonomous replacement for people. (Stanford HAI)

3. Better Questions for Leaders

For leaders, that means asking better questions:

• Are we solving a real problem?

• Who benefits?

• Who could be disadvantaged?

• Where does human judgement need to remain?

• And perhaps most importantly - would we still make this decision if AI wasn't available?

AI is changing technology leadership. But I don't think it makes leadership less human. I think it makes being human more important.