Thinking Less Does Not Make Us Smarter

When we humans believe that a tool solves big problems, we sometimes fail to look closely at the effects it has. When hype is added to the mix, things quickly become confusing. In fact, I get the impression that delving deeply into something has gone completely out of fashion. An article by Adam Parry on Event Industry News about Dr. Baris Onay's Event Strategy Bot prompted me to write this essay, in which I encourage us to continue consciously using our brains for routine tasks in the future. Because thinking less does not make us smarter.

A Robot's Exercises Won't Improve Your Fitness

No reasonable person would expect a robot that we send to the gym for us to help improve our fitness. It relieves us of the tedious routine of overcoming our inner demons and getting our lazy arses off the sofa. But the arse itself remains seated! And becomes even lazier until one day it no longer wants to get up at all. Forgive me for this dystopia, but somehow I have the impression that this is where it's heading.

Everyone is celebrating AI as the game changer that relieves them of tedious routine tasks so that they finally have more time for the really important things. AI bots research relevant data from countless sources in no time at all and summarise it into groundbreaking insights. What these sources are, or how their data is generated? That's beside the point. The main thing is that time is saved. But what is done with this time instead?

"Nothing is less productive than making more efficient what should not be done at all." Peter Drucker

I don't have the impression that the exhibition industry lacks data or processed insights for strategic product and portfolio management. Reports, analyses and evaluations languish in drawers, waiting in vain for someone to draw the right conclusions from them. From this perspective, AI could indeed help us to waste fewer resources here. But Peter Drucker already summed it up very aptly: Nothing is less productive than making more efficient what should not be done at all.

It seems much more important to me that we enable all those who are responsible for setting the strategic course for our shows and exhibition portfolios to actually do so – in full knowledge of the practical consequences. If a helicopter drops me off at the top of a mountain, then I am indeed at the top. However, I also lack any understanding of the effort it takes to get there. Anyone who enjoys hiking to alpine club huts knows what it means to chat with like-minded people up there who have also taken on the effort of the climb.

At Some Point It Will No Longer Be Worthwhile For Creative Knowledge Workers To Be Creative.

Incidentally, someone will still have to do the knowledge work that goes into the sources of AI in the future. Otherwise, we will soon create a circular reference in which the same sources are referenced over and over again and nothing new is added – also because at some point it will no longer be worthwhile for creative knowledge workers to be creative, because no one will want to pay for it anymore (AI does everything for free!).

There Is No Shortcut To Strategic Fitness

Finally, as always, the disclaimer: I have nothing against AI tools. I research and use them myself. However, I feel that the warnings, which are also included in the article (1. Treating outputs as absolute truths, 2. Neglegting citation verification, 3. Failing to adapt recommendations), don't go far enough and ignore the lack of training effect. With this in mind: make an effort, don't shy away from the hard work of strategy development, and go the extra mile every now and then, precisely because it is exhausting and time-consuming. Because there are no shortcuts to strategic fitness!

I find this interview (https://innovationorigins.com/de/intelligenz-neu-denken-macht-uns-die-ki-duemmer/) with Carlos Zednik, director of the Eindhoven Centre for Philosophy of AI, inspiring in this regard. Author: Oliver Schmitt, agendum First published on LinkedIn on 16 September 2025