When we think of GenAI we usually look at faster and more volume of output with less human effort. No one can deny the possibilities that Gen AI can bring to your daily work.

Its processing power can improve decision making through data analysis and accelerate processes like ideations by modeling, testing, and refining new ideas—at a speed far beyond any human. When used as a brainstorming aid, it can seed our creative processes with seemingly infinite amounts of source material.

Leaders need to start with and keep these benefits in mind, as they all stand to improve the quality and efficiency of the work being done. But let’s look at the trade-off that might affect long-term benefits:

Implicit Learning: 

Performing tasks quickly and more effectively is good, but what the actual benefits are that the team learns implicitly when learning from mistakes or on the job when it is being performed. Asking gen AI to translate, solve problems, or summarize documents will undoubtedly yield faster and in some cases more accurate results with less effort; however, in so doing, we lose the insights that we otherwise would have gained. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” is what best summarizes this paradox.

Developing Skills:

Like how Jack Ma the Billionaire businessman states, “Any mistake is a wonderful revenue for you” there’s a reason people say “practice makes perfect”—we improve our skills through doing. Parallel to learning, asking gen AI to revise a document, draft or find bugs in code, or generate a collection of paragraphs to choose from gains us the short-term benefit of a solution but poses risks to long-term improvements in our capabilities.

Involvement:

We are the product of our experiences, and the work we do contributes to our identity as leaders. Our tone in written documents, how we communicate in messages, our style in presentations, and even how we code are identifiable traits that distinguish us from one another. While using gen AI to auto-generate emails, presentations or code may save leaders time and yield technically better results, doing so removes the personal tone and voice that makes them unique.

If your KPIs and other metrics focus only on efficiency and productivity, you’re incentivizing employees to outsource to Gen AI as much as possible. This is detrimental in the long run when wanting to focus on overall improvement in your team’s learning, performance and collaboration.

So, talk to your team about gen AI and the types of value it creates—and the risks involved. Ensuring they’re aware of the benefits and drawbacks will reduce the likelihood of investing and making decisions that are not in the best interest of your organization.