In many professional circles, AI is being hailed as a “superpower,” particularly when applied to the OODA loop—the strategic cycle of Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. While the technology can technically execute every stage of this process, the real question is: should it?
Can AI Complete the Loop?
If an AI can ingest data (Observe), identify patterns (Orient), suggest a path (Decide), and execute a task (Act), does the human professional become redundant?
Applying the OODA loop to AI is a brilliant way to pinpoint where the “superpower” actually sits. AI is incredibly efficient at the Observation (data ingestion) and Orientation (pattern recognition) phases. It can sift through millions of variables to find a signal far faster than we can. However, keeping the “human in the loop” remains essential for the most critical parts of that cycle: Decision and Action.
A Tool, Not a Replacement
While AI is an unparalleled accelerator for the first two stages, the consensus among many experts and practitioners is that the human must remain firmly in the loop. The “superpower” isn't the AI itself; it is the human's ability to use AI to reach the decision point faster and with better information.
Why the Human Anchor Matters
- Validity & Context AI “observes” through a rearview mirror of historical data. It lacks the real-time ground truth and situational awareness that a human brings to the table. A human can sense a shift in office morale or a subtle geopolitical change that hasn't hit the data streams yet.
- Evolutionary Agency From an evolutionary perspective, humans are wired for agency. Offloading the Decision phase to an algorithm risks a form of cognitive atrophy. To grow professionally and as a species, we must remain the primary actors in our own stories.
- Psychological Accountability When a machine makes a choice, accountability vanishes. Keeping a human at the helm ensures that decisions are governed by ethics, empathy, and responsibility—traits a Large Language Model can simulate but never actually possess.
By using AI to handle the heavy lifting of observation and orientation, we don't disappear from the loop; we simply move to the most critical part of it: making the calls that matter.
The man behind the model — Boyd’s military roots and the full theory: Inside the Loop →