AI as a Strategic Partner: Drawing Insights from Cutting-Edge Management Research
- Prof George Batsakis
- Sep 5
- 5 min read
There is no need to emphasize that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quickly transitioned from being a ‘trend’ to becoming an ‘organizational necessity’ or even a ‘mandatory requirement’ for many organizations. I believe we can all agree that the debate has shifted from whether AI will be adopted among humans, organizations, and institutions, to how it will transform the way we think, create, and act in strategy. In many organizations, the temptation is to treat AI as a productivity tool or, worse, as a potential replacement for human expertise. However, evidence from advanced research and practice suggests a more effective perspective: view AI as a partner that expands human imagination and reduces the costs of experimentation.
Two recent academic studies underscore this shift. A Strategic Management Journal article shows how exposure to “superhuman” AI fundamentally alters the way humans learn and innovate, primarily by reducing errors and improving decision-making in uncertain environments. A related Academy of Management Journal study finds that AI can enhance employee creativity, but this outcome is skill-biased, benefiting highly skilled employees much more than their less-skilled peers. Both articles suggest that organizations need to plan carefully if they want to turn AI’s technical power into a strategic advantage.
What management research tells us
The SMJ study examines professional Go players facing AlphaGo, the algorithm that beat the world’s top human champions. Instead of just copying the AI’s unusual moves, players enhanced their decision-making by avoiding costly errors, especially early in the game when uncertainty was greatest. The results show that exposure to an intelligence beyond their own expanded their ideas, helping humans recognize opportunities and strategies they had never thought of before. Importantly, the benefits were not the same for everyone. Younger players and those in countries with more AI exposure gained more than older or less-exposed players. Likewise, less experienced players seemed to benefit more, as they had more to learn from AI-generated insights.
The AMJ field experiment examined AI in a more everyday organizational context, that of a large telemarketing company. Here, AI bots handled the repetitive task of generating sales leads, freeing employees to focus on persuading customers. This redesign of work garnered fascinating results. Employees with AI support became significantly more creative in answering untrained, unexpected customer questions, which is an indicator of problem-solving creativity. Yet the benefits were far from universal. High-skilled employees did exceptionally well in this new job design, creating more innovative scripts, experiencing positive emotions, and delivering stronger sales performance. Lower-skilled employees, however, gained much less. Some even reported greater stress, a sense of defeat, and lower morale.
Together, these findings provide some interesting insights. Exposure to frontier AI can broaden human horizons and improve decision quality, but organizations must recognize that benefits are uneven and design the context, through culture, leadership, skill development, and governance, for that potential to be fully realized.
From research to practice
Corporations are beginning to demonstrate what this looks like in practice. General Motors has recruited an elite AI team from Google, Meta, and AWS to integrate machine learning into every layer of its operations, from vehicle design to motorsport strategy. This can be linked to the AlphaGo case in Go, where giving teams access to advanced AI changes what they believe is possible. SAS, a company at the center of analytics innovation, launched “Viya Copilot” and a suite of AI agents at its Innovate 2025 event. These tools enable managers to simulate complex scenarios, test strategies, and discover counterintuitive solutions. Just as professional Go players found new playing styles after AlphaGo, SAS’s customers are learning to ask smarter questions and explore options they would not have previously entertained.
The importance of organizational context is equally evident. Pinterest has institutionalized “Makeathons,” internal hackathons that empower employees from all functions to develop AI tools. This democratization of AI experimentation ensures that risk-taking is safe and encouraged. The results have had a tangible impact on Pinterest as internal chatbots developed during “Makeathons” are now widely used, saving time and sparking further innovation.
Recent studies also highlight the tangible productivity benefits of generative AI in workplace settings. For example, a Nielsen Norman Group study found that business professionals using AI tools increased their throughput by 66% compared to control groups (see Figure 1 below).
The governance question
Research and practice also converge on the importance of governance. Exposure and safety alone are not enough. Organizations must clearly define who makes decisions and how AI is integrated into those processes. Microsoft’s concept of “Frontier Firms” describes organizations that carefully classify the role of AI (as a generator, simulator, or advisor) while maintaining human accountability for final decisions. The Financial Times has popularized this as the shift from “co-pilot” to “autopilot,” warning that most firms should remain firmly in the co-pilot stage for now.
This distinction matters because AI’s core strength can also undermine trust if left unchecked. Over-imitation of AI patterns can lead to fragile strategies, while a lack of transparency in how algorithms are developed can raise legitimacy concerns. Without transparency and well-defined boundaries, both employees and customers may resist.
Beyond technology: Sectoral implications
The implications extend far beyond tech companies. In professional sports, AI analytics are reshaping scouting, training, and in-game strategies. Clubs that integrate AI into ownership and management gain advantages similar to the AlphaGo effect, that is, exposure to patterns no human would have identified.
In healthcare, AI tools are helping doctors imagine treatment options that expand possibilities, but adoption relies heavily on trust, safety, and clear accountability. In finance, banks experimenting with “digital employees” face similar trade-offs. Evidence suggests that generative AI is already saving measurable amounts of time for workers. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, employees using AI saved an average of 5.4% of their weekly work hours, the equivalent of 2.2 hours in a standard 40-hour week (see Figure 2 below). These small weekly gains add up to substantial organizational productivity boosts, underscoring why AI should be seen as a strategic partner that reduces the cost of experimentation across industries. Across these sectors, the research consistently shows that AI is most valuable when it both raises the ceiling of imagination and reduces the cost of trying new ideas. But unless leaders frame AI as a partner and set clear rules, its full potential will stay underused, or worse, might widen the divide between those who can and cannot benefit from it.
Conclusion
AI is not replacing strategists. It is reshaping the context in which strategy occurs. The key is combining frontier exposure with organizational conditions that foster safe creativity, and recognizing that benefits will not automatically be shared equally. The science makes this clear. Humans learn, innovate, and imagine more when exposed to superhuman benchmarks, and they do so best when equipped with the skills and support needed to leverage those opportunities. The practice is also becoming clearer. Organizations that treat AI as a co-pilot, offering new options rather than dictating outcomes, are already redefining competition. The question for leaders is no longer whether AI will play a role in their organizations, but how it will. It’s whether they will design the conditions that enable it to be a true partner in exploration. Those who do will succeed more by embracing it within a safe and protected environment.
