AI technology is so rapidly advancing that you may sometimes feel like you are being swept up by a powerful force and carried away to a strange and unfamiliar land.. Leading a Human plus AI team requires —brains, heart, and courage—all of which can help each of us as we continue down the path of integrating AI into leadership and learning.
Learning to Harness AI Brainpower
AI can provide information that previously required human intervention to research, source, and summarize with just a few keystrokes. It can analyze massive amounts of data in a fraction of the time, and its natural language capabilities can help it understand human language as it is written or spoken. AI can also generate images or videos from text prompts and scan vast quantities of data to summarize with ease. These AI capabilities are already transforming learning content generation and optimization with alarming (and exciting) speed.
Many predict that, in the future, the AI “brain” will be capable of accomplishing many of the tasks currently performed by humans. While this shift will result in some workers being replaced, it will also create new roles yet to be imagined that will be responsible for harnessing and regulating the power of AI.
Pulling Emotional Intelligence into the World of AI
Technology is not enough – people want to feel and experience emotions like a humans. Humans have an advantage over technology—our ability to feel. But possessing a heart is not enough; it is what we do with it that matters. Leaders and employees must express their emotions, tune into the feelings of others, and harness these emotions to connect, make decisions, and persevere when the road becomes difficult.
Leaders must also understand the unique individuals in front of them by examining their values and priorities and how they prefer to work and connect with others. Despite AI’s big brain, it lacks the emotion to lead others. The power of emotion helps us relate to each other and empathize with our colleagues or customers, something AI will never have because it cannot feel.
Leaders need both head and heart to guide the future. They must still channel their emotions and express empathy for those they lead as they implement AI into their workflow.
Finding Courage in an AI-Driven World
Though some may appear confident, underneath lies uncertainty and apprehension. Similarly, when confronted with the challenges of artificial intelligence, many leaders and employees experience palpable fear. They question the role AI will play in their industry, whether it might replace roles on their teams, how to incorporate it into their leadership style, and whether it might even replace them.
While navigating these uncertainties, leaders need the same thing the Lion needed—a bit of courage, the gentle nudge from those around them to stay the course, and the knowledge that they are in this together with colleagues who are just as perplexed about how to work in the ever-changing world of AI in learning.
Approaching the Unknown with Brains, Heart, and Courage
AI is not a story that ends with a return to familiarity; rather, it propels us toward new and unfamiliar territories. As we navigate this journey, we can harness AI’s capabilities while using our human emotions to stay connected. However, it is courage that leaders will need most to step confidently into the future of a Human+AI world.
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