Leading with AI—without losing the human edge
The recent MIT Media Lab study, Your Brain on ChatGPT, reveals a paradox at the heart of the AI revolution: LLMs like ChatGPT can dramatically boost productivity—but at the potential cost of deep cognitive engagement. While the study focuses on academic settings, its implications are just as relevant for executive leadership.
The research found that when students used LLMs to help with tasks, they were more likely to accept suggestions uncritically, showing reduced neural activity in areas associated with deep thinking and decision-making. The more often they relied on the AI, the less their brains were “engaged.”
Over-reliance on AI tools can lead to using AI as a crutch that degrades cognitive abilities. Care is needed as LLMs are rapidly integrated into decision-making, marketing copy generation, financial modeling, and IT operations in the enterprise. It’s tempting to “trust the output,” especially when LLMs appear confident. However, just like students in the MIT study, teams may start bypassing rigorous thinking for speed—eroding competitive advantage over time.
For CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs, and CTOs, this should sound an alarm—not because AI is dangerous, but because its power requires deliberate integration into workflows. Just as calculators revolutionized math education but were limited in early learning stages to preserve numeracy skills, LLMs must be deployed with strategic intent.
A Leadership Imperative
As leaders, our responsibility is twofold:
Safeguard Cognitive Muscle: Encourage critical review of AI-generated outputs. Build cultures that value rigorous analysis, verification, and human oversight, especially in functions that require strategic thinking.
Champion AI Fluency, Not AI Dependence: LLMs represent one of the greatest productivity leaps since the industrial revolution. Every business unit must learn to use them—but like a power tool, they require training, guardrails, and human supervision.
LLMs are not a substitute for human cognition—they’re a force multiplier. Used correctly, they amplify the human advantages of creativity, judgment, and speed. Used blindly, these human advantages will atrophy. The businesses that thrive in the AI era will be the ones that strike the right balance: embedding LLMs into the enterprise while protecting and cultivating the intellectual capabilities that still drive real innovation.