How to Know When Let AI Do a Job — and When to Hire a Human Instead

AI is getting smarter. Within the last year, the technology has gone from the equivalent of “the world’s greatest intern” to, in some cases, a fully functional member of the team.

Duolingo announced that the language learning app would be phasing out contractors doing work AI can handle. Tobias Lütke, CEO of the ecommerce platform Shopify, wrote that before teams request to hire or use additional resources, they must first “demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.”

This begs an important question: When is it appropriate to rely on AI, and when do you need a living, breathing human?

Identifying where AI shines

Put simply, AI excels at tasks that are repetitive, data-intensive and rule-based. Unlike human employees, it doesn’t get tired, won’t need time off and can process vast amounts of information extraordinarily quickly.

Content generation is a prime example. Laborious first drafts that used to take hours can be churned out in minutes. Customer service chatbots can handle routine inquiries 24/7, freeing human agents to tackle more complex issues. Data analysis that once took days now happens in minutes, surfacing patterns and insights that might otherwise have been missed.

AI can also be extremely helpful in areas where human biases may interfere with rationality, says Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein, citing the example of how a judge determines where to set bail. Whereas a human judge can be swayed — unconsciously or not — by a person’s appearance, mugshot and existing record, algorithms will analyze the data alone. For leaders, this can also extend to hiring, with AI capable of not only sourcing a more diverse pool of applicants but also parsing resumes based on objective criteria.

For early-stage entrepreneurs — especially bootstrapped founders — AI levels the playing field. Back when I was starting my company, I had to quickly evolve from being a programmer to also serving as my own graphic designer, marketing specialist and customer support guru. While I wouldn’t trade these learning experiences, AI now dramatically simplifies the process, making it easier to realize your company’s vision with fewer resources than ever before.

Where people still reign

As AI evolves, there’s been a lot of anxiety around not just the tasks AI can handle, but the extent to which they’re going to replace people in the workforce. I’ve seen countless headlines questioning whether workers are becoming irrelevant and whether AI is going to take over society altogether. I’m sure you’ve seen them, too.

I can’t predict what the future holds, but there is one thing I know for sure: As of now, AI is very capable of handling individual tasks and even entire workflows. It is not capable of understanding the bigger picture.

Humans continue to excel in areas where judgment and relationships matter more than speed. For example, when a customer is upset, AI can suggest scripted responses, but a skilled support agent recognizes the emotional subtext and knows when to bend the rules to preserve the relationship. When a project hits an unexpected obstacle, humans can read the room and pivot accordingly.

Strategic thinking, too, remains firmly in human territory. AI can analyze market data, but it cannot internalize your company’s values or truly understand your competitive positioning. It cannot mentor junior team members, navigate office politics or build the trust that creates a high-performing team.

Most crucially, humans provide accountability and ethical guardrails. When AI makes mistakes — and it will — someone needs to catch them, understand why they happened and take responsibility for the outcome.

Hiring vs. delegating to AI

When ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, several well-known companies made headlines for firing large segments of their workforce, thinking AI could replace them handily. Spoiler alert: They were wrong.

Rather than thinking of AI as a way to reduce headcounts, I prefer to view it as a force multiplier. Instead of hiring for a specific set of skills, I look for judgment and creativity, with the expectation that those people will use AI to cut down on the time they used to waste on tedious tasks. Our developers, for example, use AI coding assistants for boilerplate work, but they architect systems and make critical technical decisions themselves. One exceptional designer with AI tools can now produce more variations, test more concepts and iterate faster than an entire team could five years ago. The same principle applies across functions, from marketing to operations to customer success.

AI tools can speed up processes, but the trick is to hire people who are willing to oversee their output, rather than cede control. “Think of AI like an excited puppy, walking ahead of you: The puppy might think it’s in control, but you’re walking the dog, not the other way around, writes Cheryl Strauss Einhorn for Harvard Business Review.

The goal for leaders is to master the art of combining AI and humans strategically. Invest in hires who can think critically, build relationships and use AI tools to maximize their own work. That way, you’ll get the best out of AI, while knowing there’s a capable human at the helm.