Humans in the Lead: The Case for Advancing Intelligence, Not Just Automating It
The real question isn't whether AI will replace humans - it's whether we're designing it to advance them.
Hosts Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington
RELEASE DATE
July 2026
RUN TIME
44:48
EPISODE
GREY ELEPHANT
#18
Intelligent Advances
The Elephant in the Room: Intelligent Advances
Every boardroom conversation about AI is stuck on the same three words: cost, efficiency, automation. But the real question - the one almost no leader is asking - is whether this technology is advancing human intelligence or quietly diminishing it. When a self-driving car can be stymied by a road foreman's hand signals, and the Pope publishes a 280-page theological reckoning with artificial intelligence, maybe it's time to reframe what we're actually building.
About This Episode
June 2026 broke every temperature record in European history. Railway tracks melted in Germany. Schools closed across the UK. It's the kind of moment that makes abstract warnings feel suddenly, viscerally real. Against the backdrop of an angry planet, Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington ask the question: what are we actually designing AI to do?
Dean reports back from his trip to Nashville, where he rode in a Waymo driverless taxi - only to end up in a ten-minute standoff between the car and an exasperated road foreman whose hand signals meant nothing to the algorithm. The moment highlighted that although the machine was astonishingly capable, right up until the situation became ambiguous. Then it needed a human - not in the loop, but in the lead. That phrase, borrowed from Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, is the central thread running through this episode.
Graeme explores the Pope's new encyclical on AI and technology through the lens of its 130-year-old predecessor: Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum of 1891, which confronted the Industrial Revolution with a strikingly similar set of questions about human dignity, workers' rights, and the responsibilities of power. Then as now, a new technology was reshaping the social contract faster than institutions could respond. But who does the progress serve?
Dean asks if we should consider AI not as artificial intelligence but as advancing intelligence - a shift in language that puts human capability at the centre rather than at the mercy of the machine. Comparing the advancement of AI with the history of the automobile, Graeme has a cautionary tale: it took 60–70 years of deaths, pollution, and regulatory failure before society built the guardrails. The message for leaders is clear - don't wait that long this time.
3 Things You'll Take Away
1. Demand "humans in the lead," not just "humans in the loop." The Waymo standoff illustrates the difference: passive compliance-checking versus genuine responsibility for outcomes. Leaders who blur this distinction are already offloading accountability they can't afford to lose.
2. Reframe AI as advancing intelligence. The language you use shapes the decisions you make. If you think of AI as artificial, you'll blame the machine when things go wrong. If you think of it as advancing human intelligence, you're forced to ask: advancing whose intelligence, toward what end?
3. Don't wait for regulation - build the guardrails now. Seatbelts weren't mandated until the 1980s, decades after manufacturers knew people were dying. AI's side effects are already visible. Leaders who act on common sense now will have a significant advantage over those who wait.
Memorable Moments
We’ve become so focused on advancing artificial intelligence that we forget to advance human intelligence. We assume progress will automatically improve humanity - because that’s how it’s been with previous technologies. But I don’t think we can assume AI will do that automatically."
- Dean van Leeuwen, 25:03
"You cannot ever say the computer made me do it, or the AI said. Whoever builds the systems needs to take responsibility. Whoever buys the systems has to take responsibility. And whoever uses the system has ultimate responsibility for what it is used for."
- Graeme Codrington, 32:43
"It took us till the 1980s to mandate seatbelts - people were literally dying because of cars. I think we’re in that same space with AI. New technology, lots of promise, but also lots of danger. And we’re going to have to build these guardrails."
- Graeme Codrington, 38:02
Chapter Markers
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00:00 - Dean on climate, heatwaves, and learning to live with what's coming
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01:43 - Graeme's grey elephant: two degrees - in a car, in a climate, in a civilisation
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06:40 - Dean's grey elephant: from Nashville to the future - riding in a Waymo driverless taxi
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09:16 - The standoff: road foreman vs. the algorithm
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12:26 - The leadership lesson: humans in the lead, not just in the loop
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15:00 - The Pope's encyclical: Magnificat Humanitatis and why it lands now
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15:48 - The monthly quiz: Graeme on Pope Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum (1891)
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23:33 - Unpacking the encyclical: human dignity, AI governance, and common goods
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26:01 - Dean's reframe: AI as advancing intelligence, not artificial intelligence
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31:13 - Graeme's 5T impact model: Tasks, Team, Transverse, Transformation, Trust
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35:45 - The car analogy: 70 years from invention to seatbelts - can AI move faster?
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39:36 - Leadership responsibility: don't wait for regulation, build the guardrails now
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42:32 - Using AI for good as a long-term competitive advantage
Frameworks, Books & References Mentioned
Magnificat Humanitatis - Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI and technology
Rerum Novarum (“On New Things”) - Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on the Industrial Revolution (1891)
Waymo - autonomous vehicle company, testing in Nashville (waymo.com)
Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture - “humans in the lead” framing
Graeme Codrington's 5T impact model: Tasks, Team, Transverse, Transformation, Trust
BANI world framework (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible) - Dean van Leeuwen keynote
The seven grey elephants framework → tomorrowtoday.consulting/greyelephantsintroduction
The Elephant You Could Name
Ask your leadership team this question at your next strategy meeting: are we using AI to make our people more capable, or more replaceable? The answer will tell you everything about the organisation you're building - and whether it will still be standing in ten years.
The Seven Grey Elephants
Every episode of Elephants in the Boardroom explores one or more of the seven grey elephants - the high-impact, visible forces of change already in the room, shaping how we lead, work and learn:
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Angry People - rising frustration, polarisation and shifting trust
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Ageing Populations - demographic shifts reshaping economies, workforces and care
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Angry Planet - climate, ecology and a natural world pushing back
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Multipolarity - a fragmenting global order and the end of a single centre of power
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Inequality - widening gaps in wealth, access and opportunity
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The Big Squeeze - pressure on supply chains, resources, prices and capacity
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Intelligent Advances - AI and the technologies reshaping how we think, work and decide
This episode focused on: Ageing Populations and Intelligent Advances
Learn more about the framework → tomorrowtoday.consulting/greyelephantsintroduction
The Seven Grey Elephants
Elephants in the Boardroom is the podcast from TomorrowToday Global - futures thinkers helping leaders see the grey elephants already in the room. Hosted by Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington, with guests and colleagues from around the world.
🔗 www.tomorrowtoday.consulting
This episode is proudly sponsored by Achilles - advanced risk monitoring for suppliers and third parties, helping organisations build anti-fragile, responsible and transparent supply chains. achilles.com
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Credits:
Hosted by Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington
Sponsored by Achilles - Supply Chain Risk Management https://www.achilles.com/
Produced by Matt from It Starts with a Podcast https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsmattallen/