AI Won’t Slow Down in 2026. Leaders Can’t Either.
The latest insights from Erik Brynjolfsson, Rana el Kaliouby, Clay Shirky and Julia Freeland Fisher go beyond AI deployment to design for its actual impacts.
Meg Virag | January 2026
2025 made one thing unmistakably clear: artificial intelligence is no longer an experiment running on the margins of work. It has changed how work gets done. In 2026, the advantage will belong to leaders who go beyond deployment to design for AI’s actual impacts.
These Stern Strategy Group clients are shaping today’s important conversations around productivity, value creation, human judgement, trust and talent.
The Future of Work With AI Demands Reorganization, Not Replacement
In a thought-provoking article in TIME, AI pioneer Erik Brynjolfsson argues that AI permanently changed work in 2025, but not in the ways most leaders expected. A co-founder of workforce AI startup Workhelix, his research shows that the real gains come when organizations redesign roles, workflows and incentives around human skills, not simply through task automation.
Creating a Competitive Advantage With AI
Looking ahead through 2026, AI investor and entrepreneur Rana el Kaliouby makes the case for human-first AI leadership in an appearance on the Rapid Response podcast. Her work highlights where AI innovation is headed next – and why empathy, diversity and ethical design are becoming competitive advantages, not constraints.
Rethinking Learning, Work and Human Judgment in the AI Era
Will AI weaken human creativity and critical thinking or strengthen these essential qualities? Clay Shirky, the vice provost for AI and technology in education at NYU, asks this sharp question in a Yale Alumni Magazine piece titled “I, Chatbot,” and on a compelling episode of WHYY’s Studio 2 podcast. His answers in both reframe automation as a design challenge, showing leaders how to build cultures where AI enhances learning, judgment and trust.
Preserving Connection in the Age of AI
According to Julia Freeland Fisher, director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute, education innovation in 2026 risks slowing down or even getting stuck if key blind spots aren’t addressed. In an eye-opening Christensen Institute article, she lays out five trends to watch out for, giving concrete guidance for responding.
These insights point to a shared conclusion: AI strategy in 2026 is no longer about tools, it’s about organizational choices. Leaders who don’t get this right risk creating confusion, resistance and missed opportunity. But with guidance from trusted experts, those who get it right will move faster, make better decisions and unlock new sources of growth – not just in 2026, but for years to come.
As AI tools accelerate from experimentation to enterprise impact, leaders need trusted guides who can translate complexity into confident action. Stern Strategy Group connects you with renowned thought leaders whose insights, strategies and management frameworks help organizations fuel growth and disruptive innovation to better compete in a constantly changing world. Let us arrange for these esteemed experts to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting sessions, workshops and keynotes.
AI Won’t Slow Down in 2026. Leaders Can’t Either. was last modified: January 19th, 2026 by
