AI Is Undermining Leaders’ Judgment. Here’s What to Do About It.SKIP TO CONTENT
Harvard Business Review LogoDecision making and problem solving<br>AI Is Undermining Leaders’ Judgment. Here’s What to Do About It.
by Leonid Sudakov and Nathan Furr
August 19, 2026
HBR Staff; AI; Guescri/Getty Images
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Summary.<br>As organizations gain more “intelligence” with AI tools, leaders are being trained out of the very capacity that creates competitive advantage—original judgment. Two interlocking...more<br>Leer en españolLer em português
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A recent report from Harvard researchers studying innovation showcased a troubling pattern. To test how AI impacts human judgment, the researchers conducted a field experiment, asking 228 experienced evaluators to assess 48 submissions to an MIT global social impact innovation challenge. The researchers tested three conditions: 1) human-only evaluations; 2) LLM evaluations with a narrative explanation of the decision-making; and 3) LLM evaluations with no further context. They then compared the evaluators’ decisions against those made by four experts affiliated with the innovation challenge.
Leonid Sudakov is co-founder of Marren, a leadership advisory focused on creativity and innovation in the age of intelligent systems. He has spent 25 years in executive roles overseeing growth, ventures and digital transformation across global consumer businesses, including Mars, Danone, and PepsiCo.
Nathan Furr is a professor of strategy at INSEAD and coauthor of five best-selling books, including The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) and The Innovator’s Method: Bringing the Lean Startup into Your Organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014).
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Read more on Decision making and problem solving or related topics Organizational decision making , AI and machine learning , Technology and analytics and Automation
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