Agentic AI Goes Fast. Who Decides Where? Tim Cortinovis on Human Judgement

A 2026 study published in Organization Science tested GPT-4 with 758 BCG consultants completing realistic knowledge-work tasks. Participants using AI completed 12.2% more tasks and worked 25.1% faster when those tasks fell within the system’s capabilities.

On a complex managerial task outside that boundary, AI users were 19 percentage points less likely to reach the correct answer. The results give organizations a clear reason to assess process fit and retain human review.

Leadership also shapes how AI is adopted across a workforce. An open-access 2025 study in Frontiers in Psychology of 525 employees found that transformational leadership positively predicted workplace AI use. Perceived organizational support partly explained this relationship, giving leaders a practical reason to make AI adoption visible, supported and clearly sanctioned.

Tim Cortinovis brings these questions into the commercial realities of AI adoption. An established AI expert and international speaker, he was ranked among Thinkers360’s Top 10 Global Thought Leaders for Agentic AI and Sales. He is also the author of eight books on AI, innovation and sales.

His background spans more than a decade in international sales and marketing across technology, finance, advertising and IT, alongside advisory and speaking work for teams at Siemens, ING, Avaya, Arvato and E.ON.

In this exclusive interview with the AI Speakers Agency, Tim explains where organizations misread agentic AI, why human judgement remains essential and how leaders can encourage experimentation while keeping it tied to business value. He also shares the response he wants audiences to take after hearing him speak.

Q1: How do common misconceptions about automation prevent organizations from managing the risks and opportunities of agentic AI effectively?

Tim Cortinovis: “In my opinion, organizations stumble with applying agentic AI, thinking that automation runs totally on its own. This is not the case. Human supervision is still needed.

“We can gain a lot of speed using agentic AI, but not by throwing AI agents onto old processes. We have to supervise processes before and then start automating.”

Q2: As autonomous systems become more capable, where does human judgement remain indispensable?

Tim Cortinovis: “AI systems still tend to hallucinate, and human judgement is still needed. You have to tell the machine where to go and judge if the direction the agentic AI system is heading is correct.

“If you don’t judge this with your human ingenuity and experiences, the AI system goes really fast, but maybe in the wrong direction.”

Q3: How can leaders encourage AI experimentation while keeping it focused on business value?

Tim Cortinovis: “Leadership must serve as a role model. Nowadays, leaders use AI, but they rarely talk about it. They’re still ashamed of using the shortcut.

“The first step: leaders should talk about how brilliant their results are using AI. The next step is using AI in the right processes, where the most value is driven. You get more value if you use AI in the correct processes.”

Q4: What practical shift do you want audiences to make after hearing you speak?

Tim Cortinovis: “I hope they feel motivated and that it’s easier than they thought. Applying AI to your business is easy.

“If you follow your customers’ pains and needs, and focus nearly obsessively on these, you will have a good chance of getting ahead of the competition. I hope my audiences understand this and act the next day.”

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This exclusive interview with Tim Cortinovis was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.