A new study is raising concerns about how artificial intelligence is shaping decision-making at the highest levels of business. Research conducted by the market research agency 3Gem found that a growing number of corporate executives are increasingly relying on AI systems to guide their thinking. Among the 200 business leaders surveyed, 62 percent said they now use AI to make most of their decisions, while many admitted they often second-guess their own judgment when it conflicts with the machine’s recommendations. In some cases, executives reported trusting AI guidance more than the counsel of their own colleagues.

The trend reflects a broader shift occurring across many sectors of society as artificial intelligence becomes embedded into daily workflows. Previous research from Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft found that individuals who place strong confidence in AI-generated answers are less likely to engage in critical thinking themselves. Psychiatrists have even begun warning about the accumulation of “cognitive debt,” where individuals gradually lose mental sharpness as machines take over intellectual tasks. In effect, the very leaders driving the expansion of AI technologies may now be surrendering their own reasoning abilities to the systems they helped create.

SOURCE: Futurism