Consensus has always been fragile in senior decision-making.

AI has not fixed that. In many cases, it has accelerated the problem.

Speed Changes the Shape of Decisions

AI makes it easier to generate answers quickly. That capability is often mistaken for progress.

Options multiply. Summaries arrive instantly. Alternative views are always available.

The decision environment becomes faster, but not clearer.

When answers appear quickly, they tend to be shared widely. What follows looks like alignment, but is often something else.

It is early convergence without judgement.

Consensus Forms Before Responsibility

As AI-generated insight circulates, agreement forms around what is easiest to accept, not what is most accurate or consequential.

People align early to avoid being isolated later. Language settles before ownership does. Dissent feels unnecessary, or unhelpful.

The decision starts to feel agreed, even though no one has fully taken responsibility for it.

This is not collaboration. It is diffusion.

The Illusion of Rigour

AI output often arrives with structure and confidence. That appearance of rigour can be reassuring, especially under time pressure.

But structure is not judgement.

When multiple people reference the same outputs, challenge weakens. The decision feels validated before it has been properly examined. Momentum replaces scrutiny.

Consensus forms around availability, not consequence.

Judgement Requires Interruption

Serious decisions often require interruption, not acceleration.

They need moments where the flow of input is deliberately slowed. Where fewer voices are present. Where responsibility is explicit.

Judgement improves when someone is willing to step outside the consensus and ask whether the decision actually holds, rather than whether it is widely supported.

That discipline is becoming rarer, not easier.

A Final Observation

AI increases the volume and speed of insight.

It does not increase accountability.

In decisions that carry real consequence, consensus reached too quickly is often a warning sign, not a comfort.