When AI Optimises the Wrong Constraint | AI Is Brilliant at Optimising the Wrong Thing (If You Let It)

Engineering the Intelligent Enterprise · Aug 3, 2026 · 35m

There is a moment that quietly repeats itself across factories, hospitals, software teams, warehouses, and boardrooms.

A process becomes dramatically faster.

Dashboards look healthier.

Meetings become noticeably more optimistic.

Someone confidently announces that productivity has improved.

The overall outcome barely changes.

--------------------

The bottleneck simply watches the celebration from exactly the same place.

That observation has followed us for years.

It's also why we believe we've been asking the wrong questions about Artificial Intelligence.

Most conversations begin with:

"How…