AI now spits out answers in 0.79 seconds. Faster than a blink. That’s all it takes to look like an expert.

The 10,000-hour expert? Gone. We’ve replaced them with the 0.79-second expert. It sounds brilliant, until you realise that speed is not the same as wisdom.

For centuries, exams tested memory. Could you cram enough facts into your head to pour them out on paper?

If yes, you were “smart.” If not, you weren’t. But memory was never wisdom and in an age where AI remembers everything for us, the real test has shifted.

The challenge isn’t getting the answer anymore. It’s what you choose to do with it.

This thought hit home during my weekly live radio segment on RTHK3 in Hong Kong with broadcaster Phil Whelan.

We were swapping stories about exams, memory, and what really counts as “smart” anymore.

At one point I laughed: “Exams were just memory tests and most of us were rubbish at them.”

Listen to the full conversation here (17 minutes 21  seconds)

From Dewey to Digital Disruption

I still remember the old library catalogues, wooden drawers of index cards (the Dewey Decimal system) you flicked through just to find a book. Later came microfiche, spools of film you loaded into a clunky machine just to read a single article.

Back then, you were an active participant in the search.

You only found what you were motivated enough to dig out.

Today, AI does the heavy lifting deciding what to find, how to rank it, and what to present back. You’ve gone from hunter to recipient.

For those who never used them, those drawers and reels were the Google searches of their day: slow, fiddly, incomplete. You didn’t necessarily find the best information, just what you had the persistence to uncover.

And now? Roughly two-thirds of all searches end without a click when AI generates a response. People take the first AI-served answer and move on. As I wrote in my piece on AI search summaries and decision-making, the search ends before the thinking begins.

Niceness or Evilness: The Maxwell Smart Principle

As I often joke, borrowing (and now happily appropriating) from the so-called “greatest philosopher of all time,” Maxwell Smart from the 1960’s TV show, Get Smart “You can use it for niceness or for evilness.”

It’s a laugh line, but it’s also the truth. Every tool we’ve ever created, from fire to the wheel to AI, is double-edged. It’s not the technology that decides. It’s us.

That’s the problem and the promise of the 0.79-second expert. Access doesn’t equal wisdom. What matters is how we choose to wield it.

Melbourne University’s Bold Experiment

One of the first big cracks in the memory-as-benchmark system showed up at Melbourne University.

In one faculty, 80% of assignments may now include AI assistance, provided students declare and explain how they used it.

This isn’t a loophole. It’s a pivot.

Because the test is no longer: Can you remember?

It’s: Can you apply? Can you critique? Can you create?

Education’s purpose is shifting from measuring memory to measuring meaning.

The Ripple Effects of a Post-Memory World

When memory stops being the benchmark, the ripple effects spread far beyond classrooms.

In Hiring and Work

• Employers can’t assume degrees equal capability.

• Portfolios, adaptability, and judgment rise above test scores.

In Leadership

• Leaders no longer hold authority simply because they “know more.”

• Everyone has the same access to information. What sets leaders apart now is foresight, courage, and the ability to navigate ambiguity.

In Society

• We once valued “knowing things.”

• Now, creativity, ethics, imagination, and judgment matter most.

Takeaway: When AI remembers everything, humans must re-specialise in wisdom.

I’ve argued before that knowledge is powerless unless it’s transformed into wisdom. AI accelerates this reality: when everyone has instant access, what matters most is what you choose to do with it.

HUMAND™: Who Does the Work?

This is why I built HUMAND™  my framework for understanding how work really gets done now. Every task asks a simple question:

• Should a human do this (creativity, empathy, foresight)?

• Should a machine do this (force, repetition, efficiency)?

• Should AI do this (memory, pattern, prediction)?

• Or should two or three combine?

Explore HUMAND here.

Teaching people, whether students or executives, to apportion effort across Human, Machine, and AI is no longer a skill. It’s a survival instinct.

And as I’ve reflected in GPT-5: Human–AI Leadership, the leaders who thrive won’t be those who “know more,” but those who can interpret, integrate, and decide wisely in partnership with AI.

Signals from the Edge: The Pregnancy Robot

One signal I can’t shake: a Chinese prototype humanoid robot designed to carry a baby through gestation.

It sounds absurd, even unsettling. But it exists.

Why bring it up here? Because it shows how the unimaginable quickly becomes the prototype.

If machines can gestate life, they can certainly carry memory. What’s left for humans is everything machines can’t: wisdom, creativity, foresight. Education, leadership, and society must prepare us not just for the predictable, but for the impossible-sounding.

I unpacked this further in a LinkedIn article, where you can also subscribe to get my regular foresight updates straight into your feed.

The AI Disillusionment Trough

Like every disruptive technology before it, AI is riding the hype cycle.

First came the frenzy. Now we’re in the trough of disillusionment. The promises were too big, the fatigue inevitable.

But here’s the foresight view: just because people are tired of hearing about AI doesn’t mean it’s not advancing.

This is the quiet moment when revolutions happen, in classrooms, in boardrooms, in everyday lives.

Read my piece on AI hype and disillusionment.

Next Steps: Beyond Education

The 0.79-second expert isn’t just about exams. It reshapes how we learn, work, and lead.

For Educators

• Stop testing memory. Start testing meaning.

• Make AI fluency mandatory.

• Teach HUMAND thinking: human, machine, or AI?

For Business Leaders

• Redefine credentials. Hire for adaptability, not degrees.

• Reward wisdom, not recall.

• Build decision trust zones where humans and AI collaborate.

For Society

• Recognise that “instant knowledge” ≠ wisdom.

• Teach people to question, interpret, and apply.

• Prepare for the unimaginable, from pregnancy robots to futures we haven’t yet imagined.

Choose Forward

The 10,000-hour expert was the benchmark of the last century. The 0.79-second expert is the benchmark of this one.

But neither truly defines us.

Because expertise isn’t the end goal.

Wisdom is.

Exams measured memory. AI delivers information. But only humans can Choose Forward, turning information into knowledge, knowledge into meaning, and meaning into wisdom.

That’s the test worth passing.

If this provoked you, don’t stop at being a 0.79-second expert. Let’s go deeper together.

• Book me for a keynote or strategy session to help your organisation Choose Forward in an AI-shaped world.

• Subscribe to my LinkedIn updates for regular foresight signals and stories like this.

• Or explore more on my site: morrismisel.com.

Because speed isn’t wisdom and the future rewards those who prepare, not just those who search.

Morris Misel is a futurist, global foresight strategist, and human-centric thought leader.

Heard by millions each year in the media and on stage, he has worked across 160 industries worldwide to help leaders see beyond the noise and prepare for what’s next.

Misel is the creator of proprietary foresight frameworks including Immediate Futures™, Ripple Effects™, HUMAND™, and Decision Trust Zones™, guiding organisations to navigate disruption and design tomorrow.

You can’t predict the future, but you can prepare for it.

Choose Forward.

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