There’s a good argument for automating from the top rather than from the bottom. As we know from the annotated copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow that sits (I assume) on every CEO’s Isamu Noguchi nightstand, human decision-making is the product of irrational biases and assumptions. This is one of the reasons strategy is so difficult, and roles that involve strategic decision-making are so well paid. But the difficulty of making genuinely rational strategic decisions, and the cost of the people who do so, are also good reasons to hand this work over to software.
I think there is a lot of merit here to the discussion of what is the return you’re getting by paying CEOs more and more. Part of skyrocketing CEO pay is stock grants. I bet if you only looked at cash base there wouldn’t’ be as much ROI for automating the role.
I think the the real answer is you’re paying for someone to fall on their sword when things go south? But then why golden parachutes? I think the reason you can’t have AI do a CEO’s job is because it would be immediately manipulated by bad actors on earnings calls…
Quote Citation: Will Dunn, “CEOs are hugely expensive so why not automate them? - New Statesman”, 2023-05-31, https://www.newstatesman.com/business/companies/2023/05/ceos-salaries-expensive-automate-robots