Get the right mix of AI & Human for the best outcomes

In 2024, Klarna announced that AI had taken on the work of about 700 customer service agents. Faster resolutions. Real savings. The CEO said AI could do the job humans were doing, and do it better.

On the simple questions, it did.

On the disputes, the fraud cases, the calls where somebody needed to be heard, quality dropped and customers said so. By 2025 the CEO admitted they had gone too far, and Klarna rebuilt around a hybrid. AI for the routine. Humans for the moments that take judgment and empathy.

Failure doesn't come from using AI

Klarna did not fail because it used AI. It failed because it assumed AI could do everything a human does, and do it well.

It failed because it assumed AI could do everything a human does, and do all of it well. That is a different mistake, and it is the one being repeated across industries right now.

AI is useful. More AI does not mean better outcomes.

It’s up to us to create environments that build on the unique strengths that machines & humans offer in collaborative working environments.

But it’s tricky. You can’t just have AI & Humans Working Together

MIT researchers pulled together more than 100 studies of humans and AI working together. On average, the human and AI combination performed worse than the better of the two working alone. When the human was better at the task, adding AI helped. When AI was better at it, adding the human hurt the outcome.

So, the value is not in knowing where to blend. It is in knowing who should own the task. Pattern finding, prediction, and the data work belong to the machine. Judgment and context belong to the person. Deciding which is which, task by task, is the work of the leader.

Use  The Helm Method℠ to figure out the right mix

1. AIM. Before you split any work, notice your own leaning. Some of us reach for AI on reflex because the speed is dazzling. Some of us will not go near it. Either way, that leaning is already shaping the decision, so name it before it names your plan for you. Then look at the work itself. Is this pattern finding and data, or does it need judgment, presence, and relationship? Set your intention to lead the humans while putting the machines to their best use.
2.  ACT. Allocate the work on purpose, task by task. Machine work to the machine. Human work to you and the people you have delegated to. Then design the handoffs, the collaboration points, and the checkpoints, because that is where the work goes to die when nobody designs them. Do not blanket automate. Do not pour everything your people know into a tool and let it run. Sometimes the considered move is to keep the two completely apart. That counts as action. 
3. ADJUST. This is not set it and forget it. What works in one team, at one scale, will need adaptation or a full overhaul somewhere else. Klarna's volume and speed looked like a win right up until quality showed up on the other side of the ledger. Decide what success actually looks like in your context, watch the variables, and when you get the split wrong, own it, learn from it, and fix what you can. Give yourself grace while you learn, and give it to your people too. Everyone is learning this at once.

Machines can do a staggering amount of work now. They should not decide which work you keep and which work you hand off. That decision is yours, and making it well is what an UnMachined℠ leader does. Hone the skills no algorithm can copy. Harness the machine for everything else.

Lead alongside AI

Watch the full series on YouTube, Mini but Mighty℠ Leadership Lessons: Collaborate With Tech and People. Stop Blending Humans and AI. Start Deciding Who Owns What. 

Subscribe to Mini but Mighty℠ Leadership Lessons for a new episode every Friday.

Start with yourself. Lead the technology and the people at the same time, on purpose. Lead yourself. Then lead others. Be a Boss.

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Your managers can watch our 10 videos and learn the basics of how to lead alongside AI. For in depth learning with practical application, put them into one of our Boss at the Helm live workshops or the Helm Leadership Essentials℠ cohort program. Start a conversation at bossatthehelm.com/contact.