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Jan 20Liked by The Management Consultant

Really enjoying this series - especially the long-form, detailed analysis and thought process. I LOVE embracing the shift that isn't coming, but is HERE. Coupled with giving real, experience-driven insights into how it affects specific roles / scenarios / clients / the consulting industry makes the takes far more palatable, relatable, and great frames of reference to then apply as examples to other industries and use cases > I think this last piece is often missing when people try to discuss AI which makes it feel more intangible / like a social media wave vs something to learn, study, and participate in.

"This human intervention is essential in ensuring the reliability and applicability of AI-generated insights." - really resonating and eager to read (and keep reading) the connection to emotional intelligence and soft skills - love this angle / element of your writing.

Question for you - you allude to some of the potential situations but where do we see the downside risk with AI here? I think the obvious one is people softening their own critical thinking and blindly trusting the outputs they get from technology, turning them into AI middle men vs a true Roboconsultant. What do you think? What downsides worry you?

P.S. love that graphic / branding

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Thanks for the comment, Nick! The risk you mention about people softening their critical skills is of course real, but we've seen something similar before.

For a certain period in time, calculators were banned from schools! The concern there was that kids would forget how to do maths if they kept using the calculator.

And what happened?

I'm sure *some* kids did never learn maths actually, and they used the calculator without really understanding what they were doing. But, for most, using calculators didn't impact their numerical literacy and indeed helped them.

I believe something similar will happen with GenAI: sure, some people will abuse it but they will soon be left behind by the ones who leverage GenAI as a sparring partner, not as a master.

It is therefore important that we keep hammering about the Human Intelligence skills that actually matter, and will matter even more in the future.

So, what concerns me?

I don't know.

This is a new technology. I'm not sure I fully understand it, and therefore I'm not sure I can see all the risks that could materialize.

I mean, we all can do a Google search and look up the risks that all "experts" are calling out right now...

But...

like people in 1995 could never imagine that the internet would turn people into smartphone zombies by 2024, I would expect that the *real* risks of AI are something we cannot even imagine right now.

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