Businesses rely on AI for all sorts of processes, from targeting consumers to eliminating supply chain inefficiencies.

So many elements of science fiction have become science facts, and artificial intelligence (AI) is among the most exciting. These days, businesses rely on AI for all sorts of processes, from targeting consumers with advertisements to eliminating supply chain inefficiencies.

Even so, some business leaders believe there are some elements of running a business that uniquely requires a human mind — like making decisions that impact business performance and profitability. Is it possible that AI could be useful in helping leaders make better decisions?

Yes!

Human brains are decision-making machines, finely honed over millennia to take in all sorts of data and select the best course of action. Yet, human brains are flawed; though adecision-making biases online course can help leaders avoid the pitfalls of common biases, humans can easily be misled by incomplete or flawed data, or human brains can be paralyzed by an overwhelming amount of data or a fast-approaching decision deadline.

AI tools ostensibly operate like the human brain. They are capable of taking in large amounts of data, learning from that data and making optimal decisions from that data. Yet, as true machines, AIs don't suffer from the same potential for error as human brains. Because they do not experience emotion, AIs are not subject to any cognitive biases, and more importantly, AI tools are capable of processing much more data at much faster rates. This helps maintain a high level of consistency with regard to the quality of their decisions. Already, AI is demonstrably better than human intelligence in a number of tasks that require fast and accurate decision making.

Thus, leaders using AI can make better decisions quickly, improving their productivity and boosting their organization in several key ways.

But…

It is important to recognize that AI is not a one-to-one replacement for human intelligence. Leaders who fear that AI will make their job obsolete have little cause for concern, as AIs used in business decision-making tend to have rather severe limitations.

For one, a majority of AI tools do not truly make the ultimate decision. Many AIs used in business provide diagnostic or predictive analytics to leaders, who can use the streamlined data to inform their own decision-making processes. The second most common AI system makes recommendations or provides decision alternatives, but again, it is left to leaders to select the best course of action.

What's more, AI tools aren't appropriate for every decision a business leader is expected to make. There is a continuum of complexity for situations that require decisions, from simple to chaotic:

• Simple situations are predictable and operate with clear cause and effect.
• Complicated situations require analysis to identify cause and effect.
• Complex situations involve interdependencies of multiple relationships, which demand detailed systemic analysis to understand the consequences of decisions.
• Chaotic situations have unknown causes and effects, changing interdependencies and unclear or disproportionate impacts, requiring experimentation in decision-making.

Simple situations are usually so straightforward that leaders do not need an AI tool to help them; in fact, trying to use an AI solution might slow down the decision-making process and hinder productivity. An example of this is payroll processing: Once a business has a process in place for calculating earnings and delivering payment, problems with payroll processing tend to have clear solutions.

On the other end of the spectrum, chaotic decisions might have too much disparate data for the typical business AI to handle. Organizations can purpose-build AI tools to handle chaotic situations, but chaotic situations tend to be so rare — think: stock market crashes — that doing so would hardly be worth the resources required.

Ultimately, businesses need leaders who are capable of deploying AI to assist with decision-making in the right circumstances. In most organizations, AI is best used for non-urgent, complicated, or complex situations, to analyze data and make predictions so leaders have help making difficult decisions. Then, leaders will be able to make better decisions faster and organizations won't lose the human touch required for innovative, creative, and compassionate leadership.