Skin in the Game - An Existential Answer
Where do humans add irreplaceable value in an AI-driven world? A reflection on accountability, judgment, and why shared risk matters.
I am embracing my AI tools and can see the immense value that they bring. However, this has given rise to an existential question:
Where do I add value? Is there some irreplaceable aspect that requires MY input?
Is it defining and understanding the core system concepts and then translating it so others can grasp it? That seems to be part of it, but I can see that disappearing in time.
Is it holding the overall vision and keeping every decision, model, and process aligned with it? This is a rare skill, but as AI models get better at moving from local to global coherence this skill will matter less.
The Irreplaceable Elements
Deep insight is part of it. I can sense the weight of the second-order effects on trust, identity, and agency the way a person who lives inside organizations can. AI is not there yet.
But the deeper factor I keep returning to is “skin in the game”.
When you have something real at stake—reputation, equity, long-term relationships, the possibility of personal failure—then your judgment changes. You start caring about what the system will do to the people inside it over time. The best decision is not always the most elegant, the best route is not always the shortest.
An AI has no equivalent. It cannot lose. It cannot be held accountable in the same way. And something vital is missing when we expect it to fill a role without that weight.
The Highest Leverage
The highest leverage still seems to sit with the person who can work fluidly with AI and is willing to put their own name on the outcome.
At Tomorrow Built we believe that “skin in the game” is critical and that is why shared risk is key to all our working relationships.
Curious how others are experiencing this shift.