Over the past year, I’ve noticed something interesting about AI and automation projects.
The technical challenge usually isn’t the hardest part. The harder question is deciding where and how human judgment should stay in the process.
As AI starts generating content, surfacing insights, and recommending actions, it’s easy to assume that once an output looks good, it’s ready to use. But in many cases, that output becomes a business decision that influences real people, budgets, or customer experiences.
The recent Workday lawsuit made me think about this again. This case is raising a broader question about accountability. If an AI system contributes to a decision, who is ultimately responsible for making sure it’s fair and correct? I think marketing teams should be asking themselves the same question.
Similar themes are already starting to emerge across the industry. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, recently wrote about what he calls “reverse information paradox” – the idea that organizations need to think more intentionally about the institutional knowledge they expose though AI.
Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, summarized that concern in much simpler terms: “don’t outsource your brain”. And Scott Hanselman, VP at Microsoft, made a similar point with his reminder: “don’t let AI rot your brain”. Different industries, different examples, but they are all pointing to the same underlying question. As AI takes on more of the work, where should human judgment become even more intentional?
Whether it’s content, reporting, or analytics, there’s no doubt AI can accelerate our work exponentially. But speed doesn’t eliminate the need for judgment. In fact, the more consequential the decision, the more important, thoughtful, and frequent human review needs to become.
That’s why I don’t think the goal is to remove humans from the loop. It’s to be much more intentional about where humans add the most value.
To me, AI’s greatest strength isn’t replacing judgment. It’s giving more leverage to apply good judgment where it matters the most.