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What would Aristotle say to a CEO using ChatGPT?
Practical wisdom, phronesis, is the virtue of knowing what to do in a particular situation. Can it survive a tool that always has an answer?
Aristotle distinguished between knowing that something is true and knowing what to do. The second, phronesis or practical wisdom, cannot be delegated, because it depends on judgement about a particular situation, by a particular person, who will answer for it.
Most responses to AI risk focus on making the technology safer. I am interested in the other side of the equation: what leaders need to practise, as a discipline, to keep their judgement their own. What does it mean to own a judgement when a machine drafted it? When should a leader deliberately slow down? And what does it take to stand behind a choice in public?
This line of work received the Best Paper Award at DIGEST 2026. You can read the paper.