Will AI Save Leaders? - Looking At Trust Around Artificial Intelligence And The Implications For Leadership

"If you don't start using AI now, you're going to fall behind your competitors."

I'm certain that you've heard of some form of this statement before.

Bold declarations that AI is the Future, and Failure to use it will become the Failure of your Business or Organization.

It's become something of a "Messianic Message".

You can almost hear companies saying...

"AI is here to Save you! Join us before it is too late!"

(Some have literally treated AI as such).

But...

Is this True?

Will AI save Leaders from the Problems they face?

Well, let's take a closer look.

What are the Problems that Leaders are facing right now?

What is AI designed to do?

Based on what AI is Designed to do, what will that mean for Leaders?

Leaders' Current Problems

Let us first look at what Problems Leaders are having in today's Business Environment.

The short answer - MANY Problems.

From Insubordination to Active Disengagement, Lowered Productivity (unsurprising due to terrible Return-To-Office "Mandates" ), Lack of Innovation and Creativity, and more.

However, when we look more closely at the Multitude of Problems, we can narrow it down to a few overarching Problems.

Dis-Stress and Low VQ in Organizations.

Failure to Achieve Flow States.

Perhaps most Importantly, a Lack of Trust.

According to Gallup, only 21% of Employees Trust their Leaders.

What makes this worse is that there have been studies that say over 50% of Employees Trust COMPLETE STRANGERS more than their Bosses.

The Reality is that without Trust, you will never get your Workforce anywhere near their Potential.

Lacking Trust will lead to higher rates of Dis-Stress, Active Disengagement, Burnout, and losses in Productivity, Innovation, and Creativity.

Why would Employees give you their "Best" when they don't Trust you to do anything Positive with their Efforts?

The answer is that they will refuse to give you anything more than the minimum to keep their job.

I'd say that those Employees are right to do so.

See, there is an Agreement that is made when Employees are hired that if the Organization takes care of them, the Employee will give the Organization their best.

Except...

If the Organization and its' Leaders don't live up to their end of the Agreement, why should the Employee?

There's no reason for them to, and it's why we are seeing Employees do what they do.

At the end of the day though, these Failures lie with Leaders alone.

Leaders have broken the Trust, and Employees are just responding.

We can say that these Failures come from a Lack of Human Connection in the world of Business.

For Leaders' Problems to be Solved, they need a Human Connection, which is why so many experts are saying that Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) will determine who Succeeds as Leaders in the Future.

There is a point to be made there, but those experts are about a decade behind the Research.

EI is Important, however, there are underlying mechanisms that will either Improve or directly Block EI, without working on EI Skills - all of which fall under VQ.

So, if AI is going to Save Leaders, it will need to fix these problems - Decrease Dis-Stress and Burnout, Improve Flow States, and Increase Trust

AI Strengths

I'm not one of those people who believe that AI will doom the world.

I've written quite a few articles on AI where I try to take a Realistic look at AI based on what I am seeing.

My general opinion? - It's Not very impressive.

Now, what AI does, it IS Excellent at doing!

I have to be Truthful that there are great use cases for AI.

What does it Excel at?

Going through MASSIVE amounts of Data, and coming to Conclusions based on that Data within the parameters it is given.

Truly, AI is amazing at Accomplishing this Goal.

It is why AI can beat the best Chess Players in the world!

I will also admit that the Artistic amalgamations that AIs have been producing have been getting significantly better.

The final piece I would add to this is that AI is fantastic at getting to a Result quickly, and significantly more quickly than a Human.

However, this really is the End of the Strengths that I have seen.

Many of these Strengths also have Severe Limitations.

For instance, the Conclusions that it draws from its Dataset(s) are purely based on the Quality of the Parameters given.

If the Parameters given are mediocre, or worse TERRIBLE, then so will be the Conclusions that are drawn.

What I know for a FACT is that most Leaders, right now, have NO CLUE what Parameters would be needed to fix their Problems.

If they did, we wouldn't see the continued DRASTIC Failings that we see in Leadership.

This means that AI will Reflect the Leader, and that is currently a Horrible thing.

Even when we look at its "Creative" accomplishments, we see there are still Extreme Problems.

Nothing it Creates is truly "Novel" or "Innovative", and within that, it generally still needs SIGNIFICANT Human Editing and Help.

This means that Leaders are not going to manufacture Creativity and Innovation with AI, they still need Humans to accomplish this.

The final Challenge we see with these Strengths is that it looks at the Data, and looks for what it finds "Most" of.

The problem here is that what we find "Most Of" tends to Not be valuable.

For Instance, let's look at the Dis-Stress and Burnout Problem.

How do we fix it?

Do a Google Search and you'll find MANY different ways - all of which are NOT working.

If they did, we wouldn't see Burnout continuing to get worse.

AI, by its design, looks for what is most Common and Eliminates what is Least Common.

This is a Gigantic Problem though when what is most Common doesn't work, and we are seeing that the Problems Leaders face have "Common Solutions" that Don't work.

This is true with "Leadership Development" and "Wellness" Programs (which is why I do not advocate for them).

So, as we can see, there is only One thing that AI is going to Aid Leaders with - Reducing Busy Work.

Now, that DOES have some Value for Leaders, don't get me wrong.

It can reduce Total Hours worked for Employees, maybe reduce Headcount, and reduce Costs.

These are desired by Leaders.

However, these do NOT Solve the MAJOR Problems that Leaders have.

Plus, AI will actually create NEW Problems for Leaders

Misinformation, Hallucinations, and Junk

Now, we understand that Trust is a major necessity for Leaders with the Problems they currently have.

However, AI has quite a few Problems with being Trustworthy in its Design.

As I said before, AI is great at looking at what is most Common and Reproducing more of that.

A major Disadvantage of this comes with another GIGANTIC Problem in the world right now - Misinformation.

AI can NOT distinguish between what is Truth and what is Misinformation.

Even with the best AI Researchers working on this, they are not able to overcome this.

Why is that?

Bad Actors will ALWAYS find a way around safeguards.

It's a fact of Life.

When it comes to this problem, there are a LOT of Bad Actors, many of which Profit TREMENDOUSLY from Misinformation.

From Politics to Scientific Research, MANY Organizations pay EXTREME amounts of money to make Misinformation not only common but Believed.

This isn't me being a Conspiracy Theorist, it's a well-known fact.

Politicians constantly try to state negative misinformation about their opponents to get some edge (even though Psychologically it backfires, a topic for another day).

Many Top Marketing Firms purposefully skew Scientific Data to get Specific Results.

From Food and Make-Up, to Medication, it happens frequently.

This then is picked up by News Outlets, which barely read Titles and Headings without understanding Research, and make it "Common Knowledge".

AI cannot see through the Subtle tactics that are commonly utilized, and so will default to what it sees most - which most likely is a misinterpretation of something that sounds "sciency".

This Problem is not helpful for Trust.

However, we also see a problem with AI "Hallucinations", which really are just Tech Malfunctions given a pretty name to make us think something unique is occurring.

It's not.

It's just a Tech Problem.

However, there are potentially GREAT costs associated with these Tech Issues.

With overdependence on AI, which could become a Reality shortly, these Problems will only create larger levels of Distrust in Leadership.

This brings me to what is perhaps AI's largest Problem - Itself.

See, there is a phenomenon we are seeing known as AI Junk.

Due to how AI works, it finds what is most common and eliminates the rest, we then come to the Question, "What happens when the Majority of what AI encounters is itself?"

The answer is Extreme Levels of Junk.

Essentially, the algorithms that run the AI begin to read only itself, filters down itself further, until it only spits out Unintelligible Junk.

People are already witnessing it happen.

Do you as a Leader want your Product/Service associated with Junk?

In all likelihood, that will be the Result of relying too heavily on AI.

However, it gets worse for Leaders.

The Role of CEO... Is Dead And Outdated?

I recently wrote an Article about how the Role of CEO is Dead.

It's something I completely Believe.

Why?

Well, it ties back to AI.

Nearly 50% of CEOs believe that AI "Can" and "Should" Replace them.

Not only this, but nearly 80% of CEOs say that AI is CURRENTLY disrupting their Plans.

Now, this may "sound" Impressive, but it is not.

Everything I said that is a Problem with AI is still True.

What these Stats Reveal is that the position of CEO, as it has been Designed today, is an ineffective AI.

How CEOs function currently, is that they take loads of Data, try to make sense of it, and then make sweeping Decisions based purely on the Data.

Many of the Problems we are seeing Leaders face are BECAUSE of how CEOs run their positions.

What you are seeing is that Broken Data is leading to Broken Results, and CEOs can't figure out "why" they are having all these Problems because the Data isn't looking for it.

Then, we see that CEOs are coming up with Obvious Solutions that have no Innovation or Creativity involved.

Essentially, they are just a worse AI.

If CEOs were TRULY effective, they would be coming up with Non-Obvious Solutions and Strategies that understand the Humans they work with and for.

This would make the Position of CEO immune to the Strengths of AI.

But they don't.

So, in my opinion, let AI take over the position of CEO, and let's have CEAI.

However, if we just "leave it at that", there are going to be LARGER Problems for Leaders.

First, if you have an AI completely Lead an Organization, you are at the Mercy of the AI - Misinformation, Hallucinations, Junk, and all.

Then, if it is doing what CEOs do now, but FASTER, then ALL of the Problems we are seeing above will just get Significantly Worse Faster.

Finally, many Leaders will simply see themselves Replaced, which doesn't "help" them, it just makes finding their next Job MORE difficult.

Looking at this, there is nothing that is "Saving" Leaders.

Perhaps there is one last topic to look at.

Decreased Public Trust Of AI

In the past 5 years, Public Trust in AI has been Decreasing.

Across the World, Trust has Dropped 8% to a total of 53%.

A Failing Grade.

In the Top AI Nation at the moment, the United States (Owning 60% of the AI Market), Trust has Dropped 15% down to a TOTAL of 35%.

Apparently, in the States, the only thing Politicians can agree on is their distrust of AI!

What does this tell us?

The people closest to AI do not Trust it.

What do you think People will do when they DEEPLY don't Trust AI, and then Leaders decide to go "All In" on AI?

The Atrocious Levels of Distrust will only get Worse.

Now, interestingly the second AI Nation at the moment, China (with 10% of the AI Market) has had "increased" Trust with AI.

HOWEVER, I think what is Important to understand is that China functions VERY differently from other parts of the world.

Business and Information (News, Internet, etc.) are completely controlled by the Government.

There is also nothing in China that prevents the Stealing of IP and Technological Advancements.

The Government acts as a Gigantic Monopoly.

With this in mind, it makes sense that Trust would increase in China.

How they operate works with how AI Operates.

The Government controls the Narrative of Information, so AI will simply help them make more of that content, faster

Then, if AI can figure out other Technologies and how they work faster than Humans, it works to China's Advantage in its Efforts to prevent outside Businesses from Entering China.

It allows them to keep their Monopoly.

However, these same reasons that China has gained Trust in AI will likely Lead to EXTREME Distrust in other Nations.

What makes all of this worse is that the Top AI companies have admitted that AI cannot function without "Training With" or "Stealing" IP and Data.

If people do not Trust AI companies to use their IP and Data (which many already do not), then AI will become Limited in what it can accomplish.

If Trust continues to drop, there is a VERY likely possibility that we are seeing the end of the Extent of what AI can accomplish.

Final Verdict: Where Leaders Should Be Looking

So, will AI Save Leaders?

Most likely not.

Just looking at what AI does, how it functions, and what is needed to Solve the Problems we see today?

AI is not designed to Solve them.

For even the "remote" possibility of this to change, we would need to see an ENTIRE Redesign of AI, TREMENDOUS Resources (that may not exist), and for there to be DEEP Trust in the Technology.

All of which are Unlikely.

Could AI help Businesses?

Sure...

Just not with the Major Problems they have.

If a company wanted an AI to take over the role of CEO, and have a CEAI, I say go for it.

Quite honestly the AI is better at it anyhow.

But, that doesn't Solve anything.

If we are going to see the Problems Solved, we need to completely Reimagine what Business looks like.

It is going to require a New Type of Leader.

One that can take the Data from a CEO or CEAI, but find Non-Obvious Conclusions to Problems and comes from a Human-Centered Approach.

They would need to be above the CEO or CEAI, and would need to align all Stakeholders, from Suppliers to Customers, toward the same Goals.

I have called this type of Leader a CRDO.

A Chief Regenerative Design Officer.

Their role would require them to Design a Regenerative Legacy.