Artificial intelligence can help executives communicate more effectively and efficiently. But relying on it too much carries significant risks. 

One of the biggest is something Wade Foster, co-founder and chief executive of workflow automation platform Zapier, calls the “comprehension gap”—failing to adequately understand the underlying subject matter of their own AI-assisted work. 

Leaders who overuse AI to write polished memos, emails, or talking points may find themselves unable to answer follow-up questions or back up their claims in real time. The fact that they used AI to create the original material might quickly become obvious. 

“There are definitely situations [where] you don’t use AI responsibly, where you’re delegating too much,” Foster said in an appearance on Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast earlier today.  

“As you get asked questions, as you start to investigate, you realize, ‘Oh, I don’t actually know enough about this area,’” he said. 

AI overuse can also rob executives of knowledge they would have gained by producing the materials themselves, added Matt Abrahams, a lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Composing an internal memo about a regulatory issue, for example, might give an executive a deeper understanding of the issue itself. 

“Communication is operationalized critical thinking,” Abrahams told IdeaCast. “If we outsource that critical thinking and then are put on the spot to answer questions, to give input, to give an update, people get really anxious.” 

The key to avoiding such a scenario is to take time studying the AI-generated material until you really comprehend it, Abrahams said—it’s about truly knowing the subject matter, even if you had some help putting the verbiage together

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