Managing “enhanced employees”

At the end of 2024, in Italy, an article on political philosophy, Ipnocrazia [Hypnocracy], signed by the mysterious Hong Konger Jianwei Xun, was hailed as an original reflection, one of rare acuity. In early 2025, the article also created a sensation in France and Spain. One problem: Jianwei Xun does not exist. Behind this pseudonym hid two artificial intelligences—ChatGPT and Claude—expertly steered by philosopher Andrea Colamedici.

The case, widely mediatized, has shaken a great many certainties. Could AI be better at thinking than we are? In reality, it reveals a more subtle reality: AI alone creates nothing; but, in shrewd hands, it can multiply human potential.

This observation also applies to companies. Indeed, while AI is already profoundly transforming the ways of designing a product, of responding to a customer or of piloting an activity, its capacity to create value depends closely on the use humans make of it. And this capacity does not rest solely with data scientists or executive committees: it also involves, in an equally decisive way, the managers who oversee teams on a day-to-day basis.

And yet, this central role of local management in AI projects still remains largely under-exploited. Most of these projects are conceived as a matter of technology, led by IT or innovation departments, often with only modest managerial support. This leads to two pitfalls: a lack of buy-in from teams, but also of fine-tuning the tool to needs on the ground. The result: many initiatives struggle to reach a broader scale, for want of having found a foothold in operational practices.

It is precisely this discrepancy that this synopsis aims to illuminate. For executives, the challenge is to better equip local managers, by giving them the means to support the transformations underway. For managers, it is a question of taking on an active role: supervising usages, adapting practices, supporting skills development.

Collective intelligence can well and truly be enhanced by artificial intelligence. But this presupposes a patient process of mediation between technology and operational reality, in which the manager plays a key role—at once as pedagogue, regulator and catalyst for transformation.

In this synopsis:
– Adopting a charter that favors the development of AI in the field
– Helping your teams to make the most of AI
– Making AI an ally against managerial fatigue