Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images
When AI tools have many of the answers, what’s the value of expensive experts? It’s their ability to ask better questions and recognize gray areas, which shifts their value from content to context. Leaders should focus on developing people’s meta-expertise — their ability to orchestrate AI tools, synthesize information across domains, and make creative connections that algorithms can’t — and make space for them to take accountability, be creative, and claim some decision-making as “human only.”
A CEO recently posed a question to me that’s been keeping executives awake: “If my junior analyst can get the same AI-generated insights as my senior strategist, why am I paying for expertise?”
It’s not hyperbole to say that we’re witnessing an unprecedented democratization of knowledge. Information that was once locked in specialized databases, consulting reports, and expert minds is now instantly available to anyone with access to generative AI and artificial intelligence tools. A startup founder in Indonesia can access strategic frameworks that once required McKinsey consultants. A nurse practitioner in rural Kansas can synthesize medical research like a specialist at Mayo Clinic.
This isn’t simply another wave of automation; it’s a fundamental restructuring of knowledge itself. Organizations that misunderstand this shift face two risks: overpaying for outdated expertise and undervaluing the human capabilities that remain irreplaceable.
When knowledge becomes commoditized, its value paradoxically shifts from the content to the context. Consider three critical transformations.
The most valuable human expertise increasingly lies in identifying unasked questions and recognizing that there are unknown unknowns.[
References
1. A.R. Doshi and O.P. Hauser, “Generative AI Enhances Individual Creativity but Reduces the Collective Diversity of Novel Content,” Science Advances 10, no. 28 (July 12, 2024): 1-9, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn5290.
2. H.-P. Lee, A. Sarkar, L. Tankelevitch, et al., “The Impact of GenAI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers,” in “CHI ’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems” (Association for Computing Machinery, 2025): 1-22, https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713778.
3. A.S. George, T. Baskar, and P.B. Srikaanth. “The Erosion of Cognitive Skills in the Technological Age: How Reliance on Technology Impacts Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Creativity,” Partners Universal Innovative Research Publication 2, no. 3 (May-June 2024): 147-163, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11671150.
4. H. Mudassir, K. Munir, S. Ansari, et al., “AI Can (Mostly) Outperform Human CEOs,” Harvard Business Review, Sept. 26, 2024, https://hbr.org.
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