AI is elevating leaders - but are we weakening the next generation?

AI is without a doubt building capability for senior executives. It's cutting the tail off low-value work that has always consumed a disproportionate amount of leadership time – ie: administration, synthesis, drafting, research and returning the time to critical commercial thinking that moves organisations forward. For executives who know how to use or implement it strategically, AI is an accelerant.

The question that doesn't get asked often enough is what's happening at the other end of the career spectrum, and what the long-term impacts will be that effect not just the next generation, but everyone else around them.

What AI gives senior leaders

The impact of AI on experienced executives is, in most cases, positive. The ability to process information faster, stress-test thinking, draft and iterate at speed, move from question to insight without the friction that used to slow everything down - these are advantages that free up time and cognitive energy.

But, a clear divide is emerging between leaders who are building AI into how they think and operate, and those who are waiting to see how it plays out (or how others do it first).

Organisations hiring at senior level are increasingly looking for evidence of the former - not just awareness of AI, but the ability to implement it in ways that sharpen decision-making, accelerate insight, and free up the capacity for higher-order thinking.

What AI is quietly taking from the next generation

The same technology accelerating careers at the top is quietly hollowing out the development of those still building theirs.

Anyone else having déjà vu? We've watched this play out before. The smartphone didn't ruin a generation - but it did reshape how one communicates, processes information, and handles discomfort. A generation raised on fast, digital, low-stakes interaction arrived in the workforce, and the environment shaped the capability, or the lack of it.

We are already seeing the signals. Australian tech leaders have flagged that AI is reducing the need for junior workers, threatening traditional skills pipelines and diluting graduate employment opportunities.

The unglamorous early career tasks weren't looked at like tasks at the time. They were the mechanism through which critical thinking was built. Junior talent are now getting the answer without developing the muscle built by finding it - affecting the ability to think independently, assess quality, construct an argument, know what bad looks like before you can reliably identify what good looks like. And that muscle is precisely what experienced leaders are made of.

What this means in practice

For those earlier in their careers, the temptation to let AI do the thinking is understandable. It's faster, it produces credible output, and no one immediately knows the difference. But the difference accumulates, in the quality of your judgment and your ability to operate independently when AI isn't the right tool.

For leaders and executive managing the next generation, the answer isn't withholding AI tools but rather being intentional about where the thinking still needs to happen in the human. Asking people to explain their reasoning, not just present their output. Giving feedback on the quality of thinking, not just the deliverable. These are small habits, but over time they're the difference between building a team of capable thinkers and a team of capable prompt writers.

The organisations that get this right will have a meaningful advantage in the years ahead.