Most business leaders in the United Kingdom appear to have outsourced a lot of their decisionmaking to machine learning models, according to a survey of 200 suits published by data streaming tools vendor Confluent. /p>

The research, conducted by independent market research agency 3Gem conducted in the second half of 2025 and titled [1]Quick Thinking 2.0 , involved 200 owners, founders, CEOs, MDs, and C-level leaders in the private sector. Researchers asked how they used data to support their decisionmaking process and the effect that has on their confidence in those decisions.

The survey showed 62 percent of those surveyed reported using AI to make the majority of their decisions. 70 percent admitted to second-guessing their judgements when their choices conflict with AI's recommendations. 65 percent felt decisionmaking had become less collaborative since adopting AI – a finding that reads like a whodunit resolved by a glimpse in a mirror.

AI can feel like a neutral voice that offers clear recommendations

What's more, 46 percent said they now rely on AI more than on the advice of colleagues.

Amid their astonishment that collaboration has withered as their AI enthrallment has blossomed, the surveyed execs were less likely to use AI to help with hiring and firing decisions – just 27 percent trust machines to help with such matters.

[2]

In the US at least, using AI for employment decisions has legal implications. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) during the Biden administration [3]suggested that employers can be liable for discrimination caused by third-party AI tools. And while federal guidance on that subject has since [4]disappeared into an unmarked van, US states like Illinois, Colorado, and New York, [5]among others , have rules covering automated employment decisions.

[6]

[7]

Richard Jones, VP of Northern Europe for Confluent, said in a statement, "It's easy to see why so many UK leaders are leaning on AI when making high-pressure decisions. When the stakes are high, AI can feel like a neutral voice that processes information quickly and offers clear recommendations."

[8]Dev stunned by $82K Gemini bill after unknown API key thief goes to town

[9]AI doctor's assistant is easily swayed to change prescriptions, give bad medical advice

[10]Malware-laced OpenClaw installers get Bing AI search boost

[11]OpenAI says its latest model is less likely to beat around the bush

Jones argues that the heavy use of AI by UK business execs isn't so much an abdication of responsibility as an understandable effort to make quick decisions. Not surprising, given that Confluent sells tools that provide real-time data feeds.

This is evident in the fact that 92 percent of respondents said the speed with which they had to make business decisions has increased over the last three years, up from 83 percent in the first iteration of this survey. AI usage, to Confluent, at least, represents an attempt to cope with that pressure to make decisions faster.

But AI dependency is already becoming a problem. A [12]2025 research study , for example, found "a significant negative correlation between frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities, mediated by increased cognitive offloading." Lila Shroff, assistant editor for The Atlantic, refers to people who [13]outsource their thinking to AI as "LLeMmings."

[14]

Confluent argues that AI usage is a natural fit for real-time data streaming because it can process what people can't.

"The future of leadership is about arming both humans and machines with the right data to make the right calls," the report says. "Right now, CEOs feel squeezed. Instinct is being overridden, AI is stepping in but without real-time data, and neither can reach their full potential."

You may have seen this movie before when it was called “Executive Decision Support Systems” or “Executive Information Systems”, classes of tools that vendorland said gave senior execs – who get jobs thanks to their supposedly excellent acumen – rapid access to information they need to make good decisions. This time around, the scenario has execs ceding more and more functions to AI to cope with the accelerating pace of commerce. ®

Get our [15]Tech Resources



[1] https://www.confluent.io/resources/report/quick-thinking-2026/

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aaliUj6bEVXH9gHcNHnXaQAAAoc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://www.eeoc.gov/meetings/meeting-january-31-2023-navigating-employment-discrimination-ai-and-automated-systems-new/transcript

[4] https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/select-issues-assessing-adverse-impact-software-algorithms-and-artificial

[5] https://www.brightmine.com/us/resources/hr-compliance/ai-laws-by-state-and-locality/

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aaliUj6bEVXH9gHcNHnXaQAAAoc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aaliUj6bEVXH9gHcNHnXaQAAAoc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/03/gemini_api_key_82314_dollar_charge/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/ai_doctor_easily_swayed/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/fake_openclaw_installers_malware/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/openai_dow_reset_gpt53_instant/

[12] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5082524

[13] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/12/people-outsourcing-their-thinking-ai/685093/

[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aaliUj6bEVXH9gHcNHnXaQAAAoc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/