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Introduction: The Five-Layer Cake of AI
Understanding the Stack Before Taking a Bite Artificial intelligence is often discussed as if it were a single product: Something we “buy,” “install,” or “turn on.” AI is not a feature. It is an ecosystem. It is an interconnected stack of capabilities that begins far below the surface of your organization and extends to your customer experience. Recently, Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's CEO, described the AI ecosystem as a five-layer cake at the 2026 DAVOS conference. These layers inc
Michael McClanahan
Feb 126 min read


Conclusion: Designing the Hybrid Intelligence Organization - The Hybrid Intelligence Organization in Practice: From Philosophy to Operating Reality
Moving Beyond Theory By now, the idea of hybrid intelligence should feel both intuitive and demanding. Intuitive, because it reflects what thoughtful leaders already sense: That AI is neither a replacement for humans nor a threat to be feared. Demanding, because it requires organizations to redesign how they think, decide, lead, and learn. The Hybrid Intelligence Organization is not a slogan. It is not a technology stack. It is an operating philosophy expressed through dail
Michael McClanahan
Feb 65 min read


Blog 7 of 7: Designing the Hybrid Intelligence Organization - Building Synergy, Not Dependence: How Hybrid Intelligence Strengthens Humans and Not Replaces Them
The Hidden Risk of Helpful Machines Artificial intelligence has become remarkably good at helping us. It drafts faster, analyzes more deeply, predicts farther, and recommends more confidently than most humans can. And yet, within this helpfulness lies one of the most underestimated risks of the AI era: Dependence . Dependence does not arrive as failure. It arrives as a convenience. Tasks become easier. Decisions become quicker. Cognitive effort quietly declines. Over time,
Michael McClanahan
Feb 25 min read


Blog 6 of 7: Designing the Hybrid Intelligence Organization - Augmented Leadership: Leading Intelligence, Not Just People
Leadership Has Not Been Automated ...It Has Been Redefined As artificial intelligence spreads across organizations, a quiet anxiety has settled into leadership conversations. If AI can analyze faster, forecast better, and recommend more accurately than humans, what exactly is the leader’s role? Some fear leadership will be diminished. Others assume it will be automated. Both assumptions misunderstand what happens. AI does not eliminate leadership. It raises the standard for
Michael McClanahan
Jan 305 min read


Blog 5 of 7: Designing the Hybrid Intelligence Organization - The Ethics of Delegation: What Should Never Be Handed to a Machine
Delegation Is a Moral Act Delegation has always been a leadership act. However, in the age of artificial intelligence, it has become a moral one. When leaders delegate tasks to people, they also delegate authority, responsibility, and judgment. When leaders delegate tasks to machines, something more subtle happens. Authority appears to transfer, responsibility becomes diffuse, and judgment risks being abstracted away from human conscience. AI now evaluates résumés, prioriti
Michael McClanahan
Jan 295 min read


Blog 4 of 7: Designing the Hybrid Intelligence Organization - Transparency in AI-Assisted Choices: From Black Boxes to Deliberate Understanding
When Decisions Become Opaque As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in organizational decision-making, a paradox has emerged. Decisions are faster, richer in data, and more precise than ever before. However, they are often less understood by the people responsible for them. Dashboards glow with confidence scores. Models surface-ranked recommendations. Outputs arrive fully formed. And somewhere along the way, explanation quietly disappears. Transparency is frequently d
Michael McClanahan
Jan 285 min read
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