The Coming Judgment Void: Larry Durham on AI and Human Judgment

As organizations integrate AI into everyday work, many are automating the foundational assignments that once helped early-career employees learn how to analyze information, recognize uncertainty and make increasingly complex decisions. In an episode of Talent in the Age of AI, host Wendy Wiseman joins Larry Durham to examine the long-term consequence: organizations may gain efficiency today while weakening the experiences that prepare tomorrow’s leaders.

Larry describes this risk as the judgment void. Early-career work has traditionally functioned as an informal apprenticeship, giving employees opportunities to observe experts, make mistakes, receive feedback and build confidence over time. When AI performs more of that work, the career ladder may remain visible while some of its most developmentally valuable steps disappear.

The discussion distinguishes AI inference from human judgment. Technology can identify patterns and produce recommendations, but judgment also depends on context, accountability, ethical considerations and experience with ambiguous situations. The challenge surrounding AI and human judgment is therefore not simply deciding which tasks a system can perform. Leaders must also consider which experiences people still need in order to develop the capability to evaluate, challenge and act on what AI produces.

Wendy and Larry also explore what organizations can do next. Rather than preserving every task exactly as it exists today, learning and talent leaders can intentionally redesign development around guided practice, coaching, stretch experiences and exposure to complex decisions. The same technology creating the risk can help expand access to feedback and simulation, but only when organizations treat judgment formation as an explicit talent priority.