In chess, grandmasters still beat computers, but only when they break the rules.

My team once trained a team of data analysts for a multinational bank. They had dashboards that blinked like Christmas trees, powered by AI and machine learning. Beautiful charts, predictive models, and Real-time sentiment analysis. Yet, they still failed to detect a UGX 3 billion fraud that a junior teller had flagged, based on “something just felt off.”

That was the moment the CEO realized: data gives you signals, but only humans give them meaning.

We are entering an era where algorithms tell you what is happening. But not why, not what matters, and not what to do next.

Do human judgments still matter in the digital age? Absolutely. They matter more.

a) Your AI model can tell you that customer churn is increasing in Region B.

But only your field sales rep can tell you it is because the competitor’s rep married the Governor’s daughter.

b) Your dashboard shows productivity is up 18%.

But only the factory supervisor knows it is because they stopped tea breaks to meet Q2 targets, and burnout is around the corner.

c) Your fraud model highlights anomalies.

But only your veteran auditor can smell intent. You cannot teach gut instinct. Not yet.