What becomes more valuable when intelligence becomes abundant?

“We may be the last generation to remember a world in which almost every intelligent answer came from another human being.”

That thought is worth pausing on. For most of our lives, if we wanted expertise, analysis or advice, we looked to another person. In the age of AI, that is changing remarkably quickly.

Rather than only debating what AI can do, we should ask a more interesting question: what becomes more valuable when intelligence itself becomes abundant?

When something becomes plentiful, value tends to shift towards whatever remains scarce, and there is little reason to think intelligence will be any different. So the answer is increasingly clear: the qualities that are distinctly human. That is the paradox: the more abundant intelligence becomes, the more valuable those qualities are.

Judgement

AI can give us dozens of possible answers. But someone still has to decide which is right for this client, this organisation and this moment. That requires context, experience, values and accountability.

Good judgement is rarely just about finding the technically correct answer. It is about weighing what matters most - commercial priorities, risk appetite, relationships and reputation - and being prepared to stand behind the decision. AI can inform the decision, but ownership of that decision remains human.

As AI takes on more routine work, we need to be deliberate about how we all continue to develop and hone that judgement throughout our careers. Much of it has traditionally been built through learning by doing, and as that groundwork changes, we need new ways to build the same instincts. We can do this by design: giving colleagues who are starting out the chance to form their own view before checking it against AI, and to talk through their reasoning with someone more experienced. Formal and informal mentoring will both be key, alongside opportunities to test our thinking, challenge assumptions and learn from one another. For those in their early careers, that means understanding not just what the answer is, but why. And no matter how experienced we become, it means remaining curious, reflecting on our decisions and being willing to rethink our approach.

A point of view

AI can synthesise existing knowledge at tremendous speed. But a synthesis is not the same as a point of view. And because so many of us are drawing on similar tools, the answers we get back can look strikingly alike.

The opportunity is to move beyond summarising what is already known and offer a perspective that helps people see something differently. That makes curiosity, originality and the courage to challenge received wisdom more important. That means looking beyond the immediate question, making unexpected connections and being prepared to put forward an idea before it has become the consensus.

For clients, a clear, well-reasoned view - grounded in an understanding of their sector, their market and what has worked elsewhere - is often worth far more than another comprehensive summary. The most valuable person in the room may be the one willing to say: “I think we should look at this differently.”

Human connection

The pandemic reminded us that communicating isn’t the same as connecting. There’s something important about being together in person. The conversation before the meeting starts. Noticing someone’s reaction. The unexpected idea that emerges over coffee. The ability to sense when something hasn’t landed, even though nobody has said so.

It’s these moments, which aren’t captured in an agenda, transcript or action list, that can lead to stronger connections we might not otherwise make.

As our teams and clients access answers instantly, they’ll seek something different from us - do you understand what matters to me? Can I trust your judgement? Will you challenge me when I’m wrong? Will you support me when things are difficult? Those questions are answered through relationships built over time - by listening carefully, following through and being willing to have difficult conversations.

Trust is built through consistency and care, and it can’t be generated on demand. It matters just as much inside the firm as it does with clients. Teams that know each other well share ideas more freely, raise issues earlier and support one another through the moments that count. The easier it is to get answers and communicate digitally, the more that depth of connection sets us apart.

Creativity and innovation

The fourth quality is creativity. When technology can do more, we need to think harder about what is worth doing.

For decades, technology has promised to help us do more, faster. AI allows us to ask a better question: what do we want to do with the capacity it creates?

AI is highly effective at working with what already exists: patterns, precedents and the knowledge it has learned from. Genuinely new ideas tend to come from somewhere else - from spotting a problem no one has articulated yet, connecting insights from different worlds, or imagining a better way of doing something rather than a faster version of the same thing. That kind of creativity starts with people.

This is also where judgement comes back in. The time AI frees up is only as valuable as the choices we make about how to use it. We could simply do more of what we already do. Or we could reinvest that time in the things that move clients forward: designing new ways of working with them, anticipating issues before they arise and exploring the questions they haven’t yet had time to ask.

Used well, AI gives creativity more room. It can help us test ideas quickly, explore more options and take on the groundwork, so that more of our energy goes into imagining what comes next.

Bringing it together

None of this happens in isolation, and that becomes particularly clear to me whenever I travel to spend time with colleagues and clients in other offices and regions. Our strategy at Simmons & Simmons is focused on bringing together clients, people and technology, rather than treating AI as a technology project in isolation. The more quickly AI develops, the more this combination – and as part of that, spending time together to connect and collaborate – genuinely adds value.

The firms that thrive in the AI era won’t choose between people and technology. They’ll become exceptional at combining them.

AI can enormously expand what we are capable of doing. Being human means deciding what is worth pursuing, why it matters, how we treat people while doing it, and what kind of world we want technology to help us create.

Perhaps that is the paradox at the heart of the AI revolution. After centuries of building technology to make us more capable, AI may force us to become much clearer about what we value in being uniquely human.