As organisations embrace AI, it’s essential for managers and teams alike to understand not just what it can do, but how to use it effectively. This article explores the spectrum of AI and how it’s transforming roles, relationships and results
CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Mind Tools
Using AI tools at work is no longer optional – it’s becoming a core expectation. Performance reviews and peer assessments are starting to reflect this shift. As AI adoption accelerates, managers must quickly get to grips with the tools, their capabilities and how to support employees in working alongside them. Understanding this relationship – how humans and AI interact – is key to future success.
The Spectrum of AI Use
To understand how AI is changing our day-to-day roles, it’s useful to think of AI as existing on a spectrum – from full automation to full human control – with various degrees of collaboration in between. At one end of this spectrum lies total automation. These are tasks an AI can anticipate and complete on its own, without any human prompting. Chances are, you already use this type of AI without thinking about it – like when your inbox filters messages or your learning platform recommends content.
Next is what many people think of when they hear “AI” – a tool you ask to do something. This includes widely known applications like ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, or Google’s Gemini. You prompt, it performs. Your role is to assess the quality and accuracy of the output.
Augmentation: Humans and AI
Moving along the spectrum, we come to augmentation – when AI works with you in the flow of work. This collaborative model extends your human abilities in real time. Think of Zoom’s AI Companion identifying action points during meetings, or PowerPoint suggesting layouts when you drop in an image. The AI doesn’t replace you – it enhances you.
Guidance and Preparation
Even in this increasingly AI-enhanced world, there are still moments when tasks must be completed entirely by humans – especially in sensitive, interpersonal situations. Think of delivering feedback, running an interview, or handling a high-stakes client pitch. These tasks don’t lend themselves to real-time AI support, but AI can still prepare you for them.
Before stepping into these moments, AI tools can offer highly relevant suggestions, pointing you to resources like videos, infographics, or self-assessments to build your confidence and competence. It’s about being better prepared, not replaced.
AI and Skill Development
At the far end of the spectrum, AI can support long-term skills development. Skills improve through repeated practice, but they can also decline when we outsource too much. This is called cognitive offloading – like when we rely on calculators for basic math or get lost without Google Maps.
AI Conversations tool helps users rehearse difficult conversations, simulating varied scenarios so people are better equipped to handle the real thing. These tools offer safe, repeatable practice that builds competence and confidence.
The future of work will belong to those who understand how to harness these tools strategically and support their teams in doing the same. The question is no longer if we’ll use AI – it’s how well we’ll do it.
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