Evolving Leadership In The Age Of AI: 5 Takeaways For 2035

A new study from the Allen University Center for Digital Futures surveys the views of nearly 200 global tech experts on the future, and humans are preparing to cope with the impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

The findings provide a peculiar outlook on the upcoming future, blending elements of dystopia and utopia. It is obvious that the scale of the upcoming changes is huge: 61% of the experts surveyed believe that the impact of artificial intelligence will be "deep and meaningful" or "fundamental and revolutionary."

"This is an illuminating and provocative statement that reveals the profound changes people are experiencing, and most people simply don't notice that because we are adapting to the deeper application of evolving digital technology. Most of the experts we have been investigating over the past few years have also been calling on humans to think seriously about all of these issues and take wise collective action so that we don't unconsciously move towards an AI future that we never intended to have nor want. Many say we have less time. Now we have to act."

Here are five main impacts on leadership evolution in the report.

Multiple self and mental health

We are no longer static self. We have avatars, agents and digital twins to manage our deadlines, and maybe even our deaths. As I pointed out in my contribution to the report, we will redefine ourselves as the “database self,” a constellation of characters managed by algorithms that are customized to the context, platform, and audience. This will make the concept of authenticity obsolete.

We are heading towards an increasingly mediated future that also encompasses the possibility of situational collapse and identity collapse. So far, most experts have warned of deep fakes of digital, but many are beginning to realize that in the age of artificial intelligence, we will face internal crises, not external crises.

Perhaps that's why 45% of the experts surveyed believe that by 2035, the impact of this co-evolution of artificial intelligence on mental health will do more harm than good.

Barry Chudakov of Sertain Research envisions a future in which schizophrenia will become the natural state of most people, part of us online and another part uses artificial intelligence to help self-promote, self-brand and self-improvement.

Strategist Neil Richardson believes that our digital shadows—the sum of our online expressions and biometric traces—may soon transcend us, creating some kind of post-death identity that transcends death.

Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley tech forecaster, believes that the AI-generated actors will win the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2035 Academy Awards Ceremony.

Moral autonomy crisis

Evelyne Tauchnitz, a senior researcher at the Lucerne Graduate School of Ethics, explores the impact of this transformation on human freedom and individual agency. Her concerns are clear: AI recommendations, manipulations, and algorithmic systems designed to direct us to what is considered “normal” will create greater pressure for compliance and greatly reduce our ability to make different choices and free choices. As AI continues to optimize every choice we choose from what we eat to whom we trust, she wonders whether she will still be contradictory in the future, adding:

“Freedom is the cornerstone of moral competence. If AI guides our behavior based on data-driven predictions about what is 'best', we will lose our moral agency.” It is an unsettling idea: In our pursuit of perfection, we may eliminate the flaws that make us human, which have been encouraged by leaders this century.

In fact, 44% of respondents believe that the impact of AI on individual agency and ability to act independently is likely to do more harm than good, with only 16% predicting a fair balance between positive and negative changes.

Artificial companion, parasitic life

Artificial intelligence will not only occupy our minds. It will increasingly replace our relationships.

Nell Watson, chairman of the European Office of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (EURAIO), believes that "AI romantic partners will provide idealized relationships that make interpersonal relationships seem unnecessary and difficult." Similarly, Henning Schulzrinne, former co-chair of the IEEE Internet Technology Committee, believes that we will treat robots as “the equivalent of a treadmill in the gym” to improve our social interactions. Overall, this report depicts a future in which the most private parts of our lives are increasingly affected by code.

In this parasitic future, emotional attachment becomes programmable. We connect with digital characters that neither disappoint us nor need to compromise. This relationship is one-way, and the relationship is frictionless. After all, why bother to understand another work colleague when your AI work partner has been optimized to agree with you?

As Schulzrinne points out about personal life, online dating can be disappointing, but “who will proudly look back on 25 years of marriage to robots?”

The same can happen in a long-term loyal working relationship with the company.

Inspire curiosity through cognitive partnerships

Not all discoveries are dark. Some respondents believe that this transformation provides an opportunity for personal growth.

David Weinberg of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University envisions a future in which artificial intelligence enables us to notice things that humans cannot. He believes that by reducing the cognitive burden that limits human perception, artificial intelligence may expand rather than reduce our understanding and encourage humans to see the world differently. Artificial intelligence will help us understand ourselves and inspire us to explore in new ways.

Dave Edwards, co-founder of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, has made a complementary point. He describes the artificial intelligence system as “the thought of our mind”, which is part of a distributed knowledge system that enhances rather than replaces human judgment. The challenge, he warned, is to avoid commoditizing intimacy and refuse to continue to use our intimacy to profit.

Experts expressed more positive views on how artificial intelligence will improve and enhance human curiosity and learning abilities. 42% predict that by 2035, there will be more positive changes in this field than negative changes, with only 5% saying there are little or no changes. Artificial intelligence is seen as an extension tool for human learning, and a motivation to inspire more problems, consider more choices, and expand in general rather than reduce human thought.

Avoid mediocrity

Finally, there is a warning about the impact of trying to standardize information through machines. Innovation professor Alf Rehn describes the 2035 AI system as a "mediocre engine", saying that AI has shortcomings in inspiring inspiration and intelligence, thus killing creativity. It seems that most of today's artificial intelligence machines produce acceptable, average-level output in batches, smoothing out the peaks and troughs of true human innovation.

However, this is not necessarily the case in the future. In fact, he offers a negative image: what he calls "octopus" an alien-like AI, which produces a truly strange result, not by imitating humans, but by different ways of thinking. In this way, a brighter future lies in hybrid intelligence, rather than homogeneous output.

People-oriented leadership

It is clear from the articles and findings that the core issues in the next decade are not technical – but existential. The ultimate fear is not that we will be replaced by 2035, but that we will be reshaped completely in the image of artificial intelligence, forgetting what we used to be. In fact, Paul Saffo predicts that the best-selling book of 2035 will be called "What is Human? 》, written by artificial intelligence, with more buyers than actual human readers.

However, Lee Rainie, co-author of the report, told me, "Our expert respondents gave us an important insight. They are emphasizing the cornerstone of leadership when they identify creativity, curiosity, and decision-making as three human traits that may bring positive benefits to the development of AI systems. Essentially, they tell us that good leadership built on these traits may be the ultimate life-saving straw for humans in the future world."

This suggests that successful co-evolution with artificial intelligence should not be measured by how these systems serve us, but by how they better maintain our ability as human beings and plan their own paths.

The author is one of the 200 global technology experts surveyed.

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