Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a transformative force in project management. From automating routine tasks to providing advanced analytics and decision support, AI offers significant benefits for project teams. However, as teams increasingly rely on AI, there is a growing concern about the erosion of professional expertise. This ethical dilemma is especially relevant when considering the foundational guidance of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Professional expertise—built upon years of education, experience, and continuous learning—has been the cornerstone of successful project delivery. When project teams begin to depend too heavily on AI for critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving, the risk emerges that human skills and judgment may deteriorate over time. This blog post explores the ethical implications of this challenge and offers practical recommendations for balancing AI adoption with the preservation of professional expertise.
Diminished Critical Thinking and Judgment
The PMI Code of Ethics emphasizes responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty. A key element of responsibility is the expectation that project professionals apply their skills and judgment to serve the best interests of their organizations and stakeholders. Over-reliance on AI can lead to passive acceptance of AI-generated outputs, resulting in diminished critical thinking and human judgment. The Agile Manifesto’s value of “individuals and interactions over processes and tools” highlights the risk of letting technology overshadow essential human collaboration and analysis.
Loss of Tacit Knowledge
Tacit knowledge—gained through experience and human interaction—is difficult to codify and cannot be fully captured by AI systems. The Agile Practice Guide and PMBOK® emphasize the importance of knowledge sharing, mentorship, and experiential learning within teams. When AI becomes the primary source of answers and decisions, opportunities for informal learning and knowledge transfer may decline, eroding the collective expertise of the team.
Ethical Responsibility and Professional Growth
The Manifesto for Enterprise Agility advocates for continuous learning and adaptation. If team members rely excessively on AI, they may neglect opportunities for professional development, undermining their own growth and the ethical imperative to maintain competence. The PMI Code of Ethics requires practitioners to “keep up to date on relevant practices,” but habitual dependence on AI can discourage the pursuit of new knowledge and skill development.
Blog post: The Ethical Aspect of Erosion of Professional Expertise in the Era of AI-Driven Project Teams
This is a thoughtful discussion on an important issue. AI is undoubtedly improving efficiency in project management, but it should support professional expertise rather than replace it. Human judgment, ethical decision-making, and experience remain essential for managing complex projects and stakeholder expectations. The best results come from combining AI capabilities with continuous learning and critical thinking. The same principle applies in many industries. AI should be viewed as a tool that enhances human capability, not as a substitute for professional knowledge.
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2 replies by Stelian ROMAN
Jul 30, 2026 9:18 PM
Stelian ROMAN
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Is there something specific toi AI that people or teams must take into consideration? I believe that most lessons learned from disruptive changes like mechanisation and computerisation can be used to avoid mistakes in Agile adoption.
Sep 02, 2026 9:51 PM
Stelian ROMAN
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"Undoubtedly improving efficiency in project management". I will add a can :). Undoubtedly can improve efficiency in project management.
I think, project management skills shift from framework to interpersonal skills more than ever. Therefore, it is also important to define the meaning of "expertise".
AI do three things. 1) Brings the text book knowledge 2) Automate repeating processes and non-creative tasks 3) Pretenting that judgment is rational rather than statistical.
On the third point, people should be careful because the machine "decision" is actually the best match of the given prompt. As John Mitchell mentioned, continuous learning and critical thinking combined with Ai boosts the accuracy and efficiency of outcome.
In my team, we are not ashamed of telling that outcome is from AI. Mostly, we talk about AI like a collegue, mid-level employee and we comment on the outcome, our own judgment and what we understand from it.. Since we have various of topics are coming and going, AI use is inevitable. When everyone open about the Ai content and ethically mention that it is from AI, prompts are mostly focusing on the working logic of things instead of copy, paste content and results. Rather than this, review meetings, solution workshops, brainstorming together with the team keeps the curiosity, self-improvement and critical thinking awake.
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2 replies by Stelian ROMAN
Jul 30, 2026 9:20 PM
Stelian ROMAN
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Thank you. Very good points: understanding the difference between people and machines, their strengths and weaknesses, is a solid foundation for using AI efficiently.
Sep 02, 2026 9:54 PM
Stelian ROMAN
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"Brings the textbook knowledge". What if the book is the wrong book, or the wrong knowledge? AI can crawl only text that is openly available. That's why humans should read as much as they can to understand the AI recommendations.
Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Jul 30, 2026 12:18 AM
Replying to John Mitchell
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This is a thoughtful discussion on an important issue. AI is undoubtedly improving efficiency in project management, but it should support professional expertise rather than replace it. Human judgment, ethical decision-making, and experience remain essential for managing complex projects and stakeholder expectations. The best results come from combining AI capabilities with continuous learning and critical thinking. The same principle applies in many industries. AI should be viewed as a tool that enhances human capability, not as a substitute for professional knowledge.
Is there something specific toi AI that people or teams must take into consideration? I believe that most lessons learned from disruptive changes like mechanisation and computerisation can be used to avoid mistakes in Agile adoption. Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Jul 30, 2026 10:24 AM
Replying to Bahadirhan Cicek
...
I think, project management skills shift from framework to interpersonal skills more than ever. Therefore, it is also important to define the meaning of "expertise".
AI do three things. 1) Brings the text book knowledge 2) Automate repeating processes and non-creative tasks 3) Pretenting that judgment is rational rather than statistical.
On the third point, people should be careful because the machine "decision" is actually the best match of the given prompt. As John Mitchell mentioned, continuous learning and critical thinking combined with Ai boosts the accuracy and efficiency of outcome.
In my team, we are not ashamed of telling that outcome is from AI. Mostly, we talk about AI like a collegue, mid-level employee and we comment on the outcome, our own judgment and what we understand from it.. Since we have various of topics are coming and going, AI use is inevitable. When everyone open about the Ai content and ethically mention that it is from AI, prompts are mostly focusing on the working logic of things instead of copy, paste content and results. Rather than this, review meetings, solution workshops, brainstorming together with the team keeps the curiosity, self-improvement and critical thinking awake.
Thank you. Very good points: understanding the difference between people and machines, their strengths and weaknesses, is a solid foundation for using AI efficiently. Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Jul 30, 2026 12:18 AM
Replying to John Mitchell
...
This is a thoughtful discussion on an important issue. AI is undoubtedly improving efficiency in project management, but it should support professional expertise rather than replace it. Human judgment, ethical decision-making, and experience remain essential for managing complex projects and stakeholder expectations. The best results come from combining AI capabilities with continuous learning and critical thinking. The same principle applies in many industries. AI should be viewed as a tool that enhances human capability, not as a substitute for professional knowledge.
"Undoubtedly improving efficiency in project management". I will add a can :). Undoubtedly can improve efficiency in project management. Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Jul 30, 2026 10:24 AM
Replying to Bahadirhan Cicek
...
I think, project management skills shift from framework to interpersonal skills more than ever. Therefore, it is also important to define the meaning of "expertise".
AI do three things. 1) Brings the text book knowledge 2) Automate repeating processes and non-creative tasks 3) Pretenting that judgment is rational rather than statistical.
On the third point, people should be careful because the machine "decision" is actually the best match of the given prompt. As John Mitchell mentioned, continuous learning and critical thinking combined with Ai boosts the accuracy and efficiency of outcome.
In my team, we are not ashamed of telling that outcome is from AI. Mostly, we talk about AI like a collegue, mid-level employee and we comment on the outcome, our own judgment and what we understand from it.. Since we have various of topics are coming and going, AI use is inevitable. When everyone open about the Ai content and ethically mention that it is from AI, prompts are mostly focusing on the working logic of things instead of copy, paste content and results. Rather than this, review meetings, solution workshops, brainstorming together with the team keeps the curiosity, self-improvement and critical thinking awake.
"Brings the textbook knowledge". What if the book is the wrong book, or the wrong knowledge? AI can crawl only text that is openly available. That's why humans should read as much as they can to understand the AI recommendations. Saving Changes...
Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
