How artificial intelligence can cause businesses to lose their knowledge

A study by researchers from the University of Passau and Arizona State University highlights that over-reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) can lead to loss of critical human expertise, ultimately impairing the quality of the AI itself.
Companies, especially in tech sectors, often use AI to replace human tasks which can cause employees to lose relevant knowledge or leave the companies, leading to a cycle of knowledge depreciation.
As AI models age, they require continuous updates with new training data, model variable checks, and expert corrections, which increasingly depend on the dwindling human expertise.
The study warns that this loss of expertise can become a “knowledge trap” for AI, where AI systems begin to perpetuate incorrect or outdated information.
According to the researchers, effective long-term AI use hinges on companies preserving and incorporating human expertise alongside AI technologies.
The findings emphasize that corporate decisions which ignore retaining human know-how can jeopardize AI effectiveness over time.
The study, published in the prestigious Academy of Management Review, does not introduce new empirical data but builds a conceptual theory that explains the interplay between AI and organizational knowledge depreciation.

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