We know we need to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be competitive and effective, but how much AI engagement is optimal, and when is the best time to use it?.

The answer isn’t absolute—it’s a strategic choice that depends on your intended outcome.

Before jumping into the how of AI-driven creative thinking, leaders must first define the why. By first choosing the purpose of AI engagement, leaders can more strategically decide how to use it across different creative and design thinking stages—ensuring AI supports innovation rather than replacing it.

Intentional AI Use

At one extreme, the use of AI can be negligible and inconsequential. At the other extreme, there can be an overdependence on AI. There will be challenges at both ends of the spectrum. Typically, therefore, leaders will be trying to identify how to navigate between the two polar options:

• AI Illiteracy — Where technology is entirely avoided, limiting scalability and efficiency.
• Passive Dependence — Where AI replaces independent thinking, weakening creative and critical faculties.

Yet between these more extreme positions lie two possible more intentional approaches, each serving distinct objectives and ensuring more of a balance. These options include:

• Selective Engagement – Using AI sparingly to enhance personal brain development, refining individual creativity and problem-solving skills.
• Strategic Collaboration – Partnering with AI to tackle wicked problems, integrating machine-driven insights with human ingenuity for breakthrough solutions.

Identifying the purpose driving the creative process will help determine the approach that will work best.

The AI Utilization Dial for Innovative Problem-Solving

Our AI Utilization Dial provides a structured framework to help leaders optimize AI usage for better creative and critical thinking in innovative problem-solving. By considering the different potential positions on the dial and deliberately choosing to ‘dial up’ or ‘dial down’ the levels of engagement, depending on the purpose and the context, leaders will have more confidence in making critical decisions.

Here are some more details about the four levels of AI Utilization to consider:

The AI Utilization Dial Focus Areas

🚫 0% – Traditionalist Thinking

• Title: A Cognitive Preservationist
• Approach: Human-first problem-solving, minimal AI reliance
• Outcome: Human-restricted outcomes

Some leaders remain skeptical of AI, choosing to rely solely on human intuition and experience. As Cognitive Preservationists, they believe AI erodes independent thought, while Analog Purists maintain a hands-on approach, avoiding digital intervention altogether. While this mindset safeguards traditional problem-solving methods, it can limit scalability, efficiency, and AI-enhanced insights—potentially resulting in missed opportunities for innovation.

⚖️ 20-50% – Selective Engagement

• Title: Cognitive Optimizer
• Approach: AI as a tool to refine problem-solving skills
• Outcome: Best brain development

Leaders who selectively engage AI use it as a strategic enhancement rather than a substitute for critical thought. As Cognitive Optimizers, they harness technology while maintaining full creative control. This approach sharpening analytical skills and fosters intellectual resilience, ensuring AI strengthens innovation without diminishing independent thinking.

🤝 50-80% – Strategic Collaboration

• Title: Strategic Collaborator
• Approach: AI-human teamwork for tackling complex challenges
• Outcome: Best chance of solving wicked problems

At this level, AI becomes a problem-solving partner rather than a passive tool. Leaders who embrace Strategic Collaboration leverage AI’s computational power to explore wicked problems, uncover new connections, and challenge assumptions. The key here is balance—AI supports decision-making while human oversight ensures creative flexibility and strategic alignment.

⚠️ 90-100% – Saturated Dependence

• Title: Cognitive Outsourcer
• Approach: Heavy reliance on AI-driven tools and insights
• Outcome: Detached, unverified misinformation

When AI usage becomes excessive, independent creative and critical faculties weaken. Cognitive Outsourcing occurs when leaders accept AI-generated conclusions without deep scrutiny, increasing the risk of detached misinformation. Without active engagement, teams lose the ability to innovate independently—leading to strategic blind spots and vulnerability to unchecked automation errors.

Finding the Right Balance

AI is a double-edged sword—when used wisely, it enhances creativity and problem-solving, but when overused, it can erode independent thought. The future belongs to leaders who harness AI strategically, integrating technology while preserving human ingenuity.

Where does your organization sit on the AI Utilization Dial? Are you leveraging AI as an enabler—or outsourcing cognitive decision-making too aggressively?

Let’s redefine AI engagement and create a future where innovation thrives.

Andrew Grant and Dr Gaia Grant (PhD) are innovation transformation specialists who have spent 30 years travelling the world to look at creativogenic cultures, and why is it that some societies & companies seem to have raced ahead with innovation, while others appear to have been left behind.

They are authors and professional speakers who are best known for their innovation culture development work with top companies worldwide. They have created a number of unique corporate simulations and resources, and have published three international bestseller books: ‘The Innovation Race: How to change a culture to change the game’, ‘Purpose-driven Innovation Leadership’ and ‘Who Killed Creativity?… And How Can We Get it Back?’

Gaia is recognized internationally for her (PhD) breakthrough doctoral research into innovation sustainability through the discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School, having previously studied creative thinking and innovation with the State University of New York. (MSc & Grad Dip Change Leadership). Gaia has interviewed over 70 global innovation leaders and has conducted surveys with over 4000 participants to identify how to innovate sustainably. She has a specific interest in how executive leaders such as entrepreneurial founders and CEOs can develop ‘ambidextrous’ leadership teams. Gaia was appointed by The Australian Institute of Company Directors and the peak Australian Superannuation Association Fund to research the importance of creating cultures in organization that promote accountability and integrity in innovative ways following the outcomes of the Haynes Royal Commission. They have been featured in/on Harvard Business Review, CCTV, Reuters, Fast Company and the Wall St Journal.

www.tirian.com