#453 Critical Intelligence: Strengthening Human Thinking in the Age of AI - Niels Brabandt and Geoff Gibbins
Critical Intelligence: Strengthening Human Thinking in the Age of AI
By Niels Brabandt and Geoff Gibbins
Artificial intelligence continues to reshape every sector of the global economy. Boards debate its risks. Executives speculate about its promise. Employees worry about what it means for their work and their future. Yet amid this technological acceleration, a different crisis is quietly unfolding, one that predates AI but has been sharply magnified by it: the erosion of human critical thinking.
This is the core argument made by Geoff Gibbins, author of Critical Intelligence: Strengthening Human Thinking in the Age of AI, in conversation with Niels Brabandt. Gibbins argues that AI does not diminish the value of human thinking. It increases it. The organisations that thrive in the coming decade will not be those that automate the fastest, but those that think the best.
Automation Isn’t the Immediate Win Companies Expected
Many executives imagine AI adoption as a simple equation: fewer humans, more automation, lower cost. Reality is different.
As Gibbins explains, companies that rushed to implement AI are discovering that automation at scale is far harder than anticipated. Adoption stalls. Quality issues emerge. Employees misuse tools. And AI output, when accepted blindly, enters workflows without critical evaluation.
Executives, instead of gaining efficiency, find themselves introducing new risks.
This doesn’t reflect a failure of AI. It reflects a failure of human thinking.
The Critical Thinking Crisis
AI can answer almost any question. But it cannot tell you whether you are asking the right one.
Gibbins argues that organisations dramatically overestimate their people’s ability to reason, analyse, and evaluate.
Critical thinking is rarely taught at schools and universities. And even when it is, it is seldom practised at scale inside organisations.
In an era of AI, this becomes a structural weakness.
If every employee can instantly generate content, analysis, or recommendations using AI, then the value shifts away from production and toward judgement.
The competitive advantage is no longer speed.
It is discernment.
From Blind Trust to Balanced Evaluation
Executives now face a dual risk:
Over-reliance on AI, where teams accept machine output without question.
Under-utilisation, where fear of AI leads to tools sitting unused, wasting investment.
Balancing these requires a deliberate model of human–AI collaboration.
Gibbins outlines this clearly:
Identify what AI should do.
Identify what humans must do.
Establish the oversight, evaluation, and decision processes between the two.
The goal is not to replace judgement. It is to enhance it.
The Eight Capabilities of Critical Intelligence
Gibbins’ framework divides critical intelligence into eight essential capabilities, four rooted in human thinking, and four in human–AI interaction. Together they form the foundation for successful leadership in the AI era.
Four Human Critical Thinking Capabilities
1. Understanding reasoning and arguments
The ability to break apart claims, identify assumptions, and analyse logic.
2. Recognising biases and mental models
Humans interpret the world through filters. AI can help surface those blind spots.
3. Information literacy
Not all data is equal. Leaders must recognise what is credible, what is questionable, and why.
4. Metacognition
Thinking deliberately about one’s own thinking, the human superpower AI cannot replicate.
Four Human–AI Capabilities
5. Understanding how AI works
Not prompt engineering. Understanding pattern recognition, limitations, and strengths.
6. Human–AI collaboration modes
Choosing when humans lead, when AI leads, and how the two switch roles.
7. Human–AI evaluation
Evaluating AI, and recognising that AI will increasingly evaluate humans as well.
8. Skill adaptation
Knowing which human skills grow in value as AI expands its capabilities.
One example from the interview: architecture.
AI can quickly learn building codes and master software. But client relationships, aesthetic judgement, and spatial intuition remain human-driven. These become the differentiators.
The Startling Reality: Most Employees Aren’t Trained
Perhaps the most striking insight from the conversation is this: 74% of employees using AI have received no formal training.
They are told to experiment, to “give it a try.”
But without training, they cannot evaluate outputs, or understand what the tool is doing.
For executives, this represents a governance risk:
untrained employees with powerful tools can generate confident-sounding but incorrect information at scale.
Critical intelligence is no longer optional.
It is mandatory.
Lessons from AI Implementation in Fortune 500 Companies
Gibbins highlights two major lessons from global enterprises:
1. AI is not an IT project.
It is a business transformation project.
Cross-functional leadership, not technical deployment, determines success.
2. Automating old processes is not the goal.
AI allows organisations to redesign workflows entirely, combining human judgement with machine speed.
The biggest waste in AI adoption isn’t failed automation.
It is using AI to accelerate processes that were never optimal in the first place.
Mid-sized organisations, Gibbins emphasizes, actually have an advantage:
less legacy data, cleaner processes, and more agility.
They don’t need armies of AI engineers.
They need curious, high-aptitude employees empowered to run controlled experiments.
Where AI Enhances Humans, and Where Humans Must Lead
The future is not AI replacing humans.
It is humans strengthened by AI.
Gibbins envisions human–AI teams where:
AI generates options.
Humans define direction.
AI accelerates decisions.
Humans anchor judgement.
Critical intelligence ensures the partnership is productive rather than dangerous.
The New Leadership Mandate
For the modern executive, the challenge is not simply to introduce AI.
It is to cultivate the thinking required to use AI responsibly, intelligently, and competitively.
As Niels Brabandt and Geoff Gibbins underscore, the age of AI does not diminish human value, it increases it.
The leaders who succeed will be those who:
Strengthen human judgement.
Build critical thinking capability at every level.
Design workflows where humans and AI complement, not compete.
Invest in skills that AI cannot replicate.
AI is powerful.
But thinking, human thinking, remains the ultimate competitive advantage.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
Is excellent leadership important to you?
Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn
Website: www.NB-Networks.biz
Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, Moderator.