Istanbul Keynote Speaker: James Taylor on Super Collaboration and Avoiding Cognitive Atrophy

&&

SuperCollaboration·Kartal, Istanbul·2:14

Istanbul Keynote Speaker: James Taylor on Super Collaboration and Avoiding Cognitive Atrophy

Filmed a few hours before stepping on stage for IPPAG in Istanbul, James Taylor walks through the thinking behind his keynote and workshop on SuperCollaboration — how humans and AI can work together at a deeper level than most organisations currently attempt, and why the goal of AI adoption should be wisdom rather than cleverness.

James Taylor

MBA · FRSA

Series: SuperCollaboration

4 min read · 2:14 watch

Check Availability Speaking Programmes

Recorded in Kartal, on Istanbul's Asian side, a few hours before the IPPAG keynote and workshop. Runtime 2:14.

In This Episode

Approximate — single continuous take, no chapter markers in the source recording.

0:00Greeting from Kartal, on Istanbul's Asian side, a few hours before the keynote

0:20What today's session is about: SuperCollaboration between humans and AI

0:40Opening the keynote with Rumi: from clever to wise

1:05Reframing the brief: AI for better decisions, not just productivity

1:25Cognitive atrophy: what MIT and clinical research are finding

1:50Why it's a workshop, not just a talk: practical activities for the audience

2:05Booking James as a speaker, in Istanbul or anywhere else

A Few Hours Before the Stage, from Kartal

This one was filmed in Kartal, on Istanbul's Asian side, a few hours before James Taylor stepped on stage for IPPAG. It runs two minutes and fourteen seconds, and in that time it sets out the argument behind the whole session: a keynote and workshop on SuperCollaboration, and why the way most organisations are adopting AI right now is quietly working against them.

If you are planning an event in Istanbul — or anywhere else — on AI, collaboration, creativity or innovation, this is also James putting himself forward for the job.

SuperCollaboration Is About Depth, Not Speed

Most conversations about AI inside organisations are conversations about speed. Faster drafts, faster decks, faster answers. SuperCollaboration starts somewhere else. It is about depth: getting humans and AI to combine in ways that produce genuinely better outcomes, not just faster ones.

That distinction matters because it changes what "good" looks like. If the measure is speed, any tool that shortens the task counts as a win. If the measure is the quality of the outcome, you have to look at what the human brought to it — and whether the collaboration made that contribution sharper or thinner.

The Brief: Not Cleverer, Wiser

The Istanbul client asked for something more specific than a productivity talk, and James takes that brief head-on in the video.

"The client has asked me to talk about AI not just as a way to be more productive... but how we can use it to become wiser, to make better decisions."

— James Taylor, Istanbul

He opens the keynote itself with Rumi, which reframes the entire goal of AI adoption before a single tool gets mentioned.

"Yesterday I was clever, and I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, and I want to change myself."

— Rumi, quoted by James to open the keynote

Cleverness is what most AI deployments optimise for. Wisdom — better judgement, better decisions — is a different target, and it is not one you hit by accident.

Cognitive Atrophy Is a Documented Risk

The hinge of the session is a risk that rarely makes it into the AI strategy deck. Certain patterns of AI use quietly erode the thinking they were supposed to support.

"Certain uses of AI... can actually dull our critical thinking skills."

— James Taylor, Istanbul

This is not a hunch. MIT research and observations from medicine and surgery point the same way: cognitive atrophy is a real, documented risk, and it shows up over time rather than all at once. The skill does not disappear on the day you start using the tool. It fades while everything still looks fine.

The conclusion James draws is not the c