AI Changes Who Makes Decisions - Not How Decisions Are Made
Practical guidance on ai changes who makes decisions - not how decisions are made and what to do about it.
The point
AI Changes Who Makes Decisions - Not How Decisions Are Made is not a technology statement. It is a decision quality statement.
The decision lens for this topic
Ask: "What would a good decision look like without AI?" Then ask: "What does AI change - speed, coverage, consistency, or risk?" If you cannot answer, you are not ready to automate this decision.
Why this matters
Leaders are being asked to "adopt AI" as if it is a software upgrade. It is not. AI adoption changes decision flow: who proposes options, who validates them, and who owns the outcome.
What goes wrong in the real world
- Strategy becomes a collection of generated plans with no clear tradeoffs
- Teams confuse activity (outputs) with progress (outcomes)
- Responsibility drifts because the tool feels authoritative
If a decision can hurt customers, finances, or reputation, a named human must be able to explain: the goal, the assumptions, and the downside.
How to apply this this week
- Identify your top 5 recurring decisions (pricing, hiring, credit, procurement, roadmap)
- For each decision, define: owner, required evidence, and sign-off
- Use AI to generate options - but require humans to justify the final choice
AI can speed up decision preparation. It cannot replace leadership accountability.