The danger of AI in HR is not that it will replace human leaders. It’s that human leaders, awestruck by its capabilities, will replace themselves. Human leadership in this era of AI is being discussed everywhere, but largely on AI’s terms. This fixation has an historical counterpart from the late 18th century. Then, the courts of Europe were transfixed by Wolfgang von Kempelen’s “Mechanical Turk,” an automaton that appeared to play chess and that beat every grand master it faced. Monarchs marvelled at it. Napoleon challenged it. Benjamin Franklin studied it. For 84 years, it toured the world appearing to offer