Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday project management. Project professionals are using tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and other AI platforms to summarise meetings, draft reports, analyse information, generate project plans, identify potential risks and even help prepare communications for stakeholders. The productivity benefits can be significant. But there is an important question organisations need to ask: Are project professionals being given the skills to use AI effectively and safely?
AI adoption is already happening. For many organisations, the question is no longer whether project teams will use AI. They already are. The attraction is understandable. A project manager faced with pages of meeting notes can create a concise summary in seconds. A blank risk register can quickly become a useful starting point. A lengthy project update can be transformed into an executive summary almost instantly. Used effectively, AI can free project professionals from some of the administrative burden associated with project delivery, allowing more time for activities where human skills really matter: leadership, stakeholder engagement, decision-making and problem solving.
But convenience can also create risk. Let’s look at the potential risks that AI use could bring with it.
AI sounds confident – even when it is wrong
One of the most important skills when working with generative AI is recognising that a convincing answer isn’t necessarily an accurate one. AI systems can produce incorrect information, make assumptions or present invented information with considerable confidence. For project professionals, accepting an output without sufficient scrutiny could have significant consequences.
Imagine an AI-generated risk analysis that overlooks a critical dependency, or a project report containing an incorrect interpretation of performance data.
Therefore, the knowledge and skill set of the project professional using AI is still paramount. AI should support professional judgement rather than replace it. The project professional remains responsible for questioning the output, validating important information and applying the organisational and commercial context that an AI tool may simply not possess.
What information are we sharing?
Another important consideration: data. Project environments routinely involve commercially sensitive information, customer data, financial information, contracts, intellectual property and confidential discussions.
Copying information into an AI platform without understanding how that information will be processed or retained can expose an organisation to unnecessary risk. Organisations therefore need clear policies about which AI tools can be used, what information can be shared with them and when human review is required.
Already simply telling employees not to use AI is unlikely to be welcomed or to be the answer. Providing clear boundaries and appropriate training is much more realistic.
Appropriate prompting is only part of the skill
Much attention has been given to writing better AI prompts. That’s useful, but effective AI capability involves considerably more. Project professionals need to understand when AI is appropriate, how to challenge its responses, how to recognise potential bias, when information needs independent verification and when AI shouldn’t be used at all.
Perhaps most importantly, they need to retain ownership of the outcome. AI can help draft a stakeholder communication, but it doesn’t understand that stakeholder relationship in the way the project manager does. It can suggest risks, but it doesn’t experience the organisational culture surrounding the project. That distinction matters.
A new project management competence?
As AI becomes embedded within project delivery, organisations may need to stop thinking about AI as simply another productivity tool. Using it effectively requires knowledge, judgement and professional responsibility. The strongest project professionals of the future may not be those who use AI for everything, nor those who refuse to use it. They will be those who understand when to use it, how to question it and when human judgement matters more.
And that raises an important question for organisations:
If your project professionals are already using AI, have you equipped them to use it well?
How Provek can support you and your project team
If your organisation wishes to strengthen how project leaders are using AI, take a look at our AI-Driven Project Manager Certification (AIPM). The one-day course co-created by globally renowned project management trailblazers Ricardo Vargas and Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, offers companies and delegates the must-have AI skills to stay ahead of the curve and confidently bridge the gap between traditional practices and future-ready innovation.
This course is most suited to those with a minimal knowledge of AI and is designed to showcase a variety of tools that can be utilised to improve project delivery and drive efficiencies in administrative and time- consuming processes. It also provides the opportunity to earn a professional qualification focused on the application of AI in project delivery.
