We Know More Than We Can Tell

The Paradox of Tacit Knowledge in the Age of AI

Have you ever tried explaining how you recognize a friend’s face in a crowd? Or why a well-designed app just ‘feels right’? These are examples of tacit knowledge—things we intuitively understand but struggle to put into words. This phenomenon, known as Polanyi’s Paradox, presents one of the greatest challenges in artificial intelligence: Can machines truly grasp what we know but cannot articulate?

As generative AI (GenAI) evolves, it stands at a crossroads. It has the potential to create immense value by augmenting human capabilities, yet it also risks disrupting industries and eroding essential skills. The question we must ask is: Are we building AI to enhance human intelligence, or are we outsourcing knowledge to systems that can’t fully understand it?

How GenAI Creates Value

AI’s ability to process massive datasets and recognize patterns enables it to enhance human decision-making, automate repetitive tasks, and push creative boundaries. Here’s how GenAI is transforming industries:

1. Enhancing UX Design & Creativity

Tools like Figma’s AI-powered features help designers generate layouts, predict user behavior, and automate tedious design adjustments. But while AI can suggest optimizations, the nuanced understanding of user experience—what feels intuitive—remains a deeply human skill.

2. Revolutionizing Healthcare & Diagnostics

AI models can detect diseases from medical scans with higher accuracy than humans. However, doctors provide crucial context—understanding patient history, symptoms, and ethical considerations—that an AI system alone cannot replicate.

3. Assisting in Business Decision-Making

Predictive analytics help businesses identify trends, optimize supply chains, and make data-driven decisions. Yet, strategy requires intuition, market awareness, and ethical judgment—factors that remain outside AI’s grasp.

AI thrives in structured problem-solving, but when it comes to deep, intuitive knowledge, it still relies on human expertise.

How GenAI Can Break Value

Despite its benefits, AI introduces risks that could undermine human knowledge and decision-making if left unchecked.

1. The Risk of Skill Atrophy

Over-reliance on AI can lead to skill degradation. If professionals outsource too much thinking to AI, their ability to problem-solve independently may diminish over time. For example, if designers stop sketching ideas and rely entirely on AI-generated wireframes, they may lose the creative intuition that defines great UX.

2. Misinformation & Trust Issues

GenAI tools can generate convincing yet factually incorrect information. As companies integrate AI-generated content into workflows, misinformation risks rise, threatening brand credibility and public trust.

3. Ethical & Regulatory Concerns

Bias in AI models is a well-documented issue. Without human oversight, AI can reinforce stereotypes, automate biased hiring decisions, and create unfair outcomes in finance, law, and healthcare. The paradox here is that AI is only as good as the data it learns from, yet human biases exist in that data.

Striking the Balance

The challenge of Polanyi’s Paradox in AI is not just technical—it’s philosophical and strategic. While AI excels in computational tasks, true intelligence requires judgment, ethics, and the ability to navigate ambiguity.

To ensure AI enhances rather than replaces human expertise, we must:

✅ Use AI as an assistant, not a substitute – Leverage AI to handle repetitive work while reserving critical thinking for humans.
✅ Develop AI literacy – Professionals must understand how AI works to identify its strengths, weaknesses, and limitations.
✅ Maintain human oversight – Ethical, creative, and strategic decisions should always involve human input.

The future of AI depends on how we shape it. Are we using AI to amplify human intelligence, or are we surrendering our tacit knowledge to systems that cannot truly understand it? The answer will define whether AI becomes our greatest asset or our biggest liability.

💡 What are your thoughts on AI’s role in augmenting human intelligence? Have you encountered situations where AI either helped or hindered your work? Let’s discuss!

📌 Further Reading: How AI Could Help Rebuild the Middle Class