Can Versus Should

"AI can do this."

You hear it constantly. AI can write your emails. AI can generate your code. AI can create your content. AI can handle customer support. AI can draft your strategy.

All true.

But "AI can do this" doesn't mean "we should have AI do this."

The gap between capability and wisdom is where judgment lives.

AI can write your apology email to a major client. Should it? Maybe the client needs to hear your actual voice, not optimized phrasing.

AI can generate your product roadmap. Should it? Maybe the process of building the roadmap together creates the alignment you need more than the document itself.

AI can handle tier-one support tickets. Should it? Maybe those interactions are where you learn what's actually breaking for customers.

Capability is about what's possible.

Judgment is about what's wise given your actual context, constraints, and second-order effects.

The question isn't "can AI do this?"

The questions are:

What do we lose if AI does this? What do we learn by doing it ourselves? What relationships change if we automate this? What signals disappear if we delegate this?

Good judgment knows the difference between efficiency and wisdom.

Sometimes the inefficient path creates value the efficient path destroys.

AI expands what's possible.

Judgment decides what's wise.