Why AI Won’t Be Taking My Job as an Exercise Facilitator Anytime Soon

Imagine This 

It’s 9:00 a.m. on a Tuesday. Your executive team is gathered around the table for a cyber incident tabletop exercise. Suddenly, the “attack” unfolds—emails flood in, customers demand answers, and social media lights up with questions your comms team hasn’t prepared for. Everyone’s watching the facilitator to guide the conversation, adjust the injects, and sense when the team is drifting off-track.

Now picture that facilitator as an algorithm. No pause, no raised eyebrows when someone dodges a question, no gut feeling to push the CEO for a clearer answer. Just a script. 

Would you feel confident that the exercise prepared your team for the real thing? Probably not.  

The Temptation of AI in Exercises 

We’re living in a world where AI is writing press releases, generating fake voices, and even predicting the next move in complex supply chains. It’s natural for executives and resilience leaders to ask: Will AI take over crisis exercises too? 

The short answer: not anytime soon. While AI is a powerful tool for scenario design and even inject creation, the art of facilitating an exercise—reading the room, adapting in real time, and creating the psychological safety to challenge leaders—isn’t something you can automate. 

Recent meta-analysis by MIT Sloan researchers found that human-AI teams often perform worse than either humans working alone or AI alone in decision-making tasks, highlighting the difficulty of melding human insight with algorithmic processing in high-stakes, ambiguous scenarios.

Why Professional Exercise Delivery Still Matters 

1. Crises Are About People, Not Just Processes 

AI can generate scenarios with realism, but when your CFO looks visibly uncomfortable or your comms lead hesitates before answering, that’s when a facilitator steps in. Those human moments, the pauses, the tension, the overconfidence—are what reveal the real strengths and gaps in your team. 

2. AI Can’t Read the Room 

Algorithms don’t notice when the COO is dominating the conversation while the Head of HR hasn’t spoken once. A skilled facilitator balances voices, ensuring decisions reflect the whole organization—not just the loudest voice. 

3. Adaptation Is Key 

No exercise goes exactly as planned. Leaders veer off script. Regulators ask unexpected questions. A facilitator adjusts in real time, knowing when to turn up the heat and when to slow down. AI can’t replicate the judgment call that comes from years of lived crisis experience. 

Related: Tabletop Exercises for Cybersecurity Leadership Excellence

The Questions I Hear Most from Leaders 

Over tea (or more often, in boardrooms), I hear a few recurring questions about AI and exercises: 

“Can AI design our entire scenario?” 

Yes—and no. AI can help brainstorm and draft realistic injects. But without human oversight, you risk scenarios that feel too generic or, worse, culturally tone-deaf. Also, is your data safe by connecting your ChatGPT to your network? According to this recent Wired article, not so much – https://www.wired.com/story/poisoned-document-could-leak-secret-data-chatgpt/ 

“Will AI save us money on exercises?” 

 It might reduce prep time, but the real value is in how your leaders respond under pressure. If the exercise doesn’t test the right dynamics, the savings are meaningless compared to the cost of a failed crisis response. 

“Isn’t AI better at keeping up with evolving threats?” 

AI is great at scanning threat intelligence feeds and flagging new risks. But turning those risks into tailored, high-impact scenarios for your unique business requires human context. 

“Couldn’t an AI bot just run the injects and prompts?” 

It could. But when your CEO rolls their eyes or your General Counsel gets defensive, the bot won’t know how to pivot. Facilitation is about human behavior, not just timing slides. 

Lessons from the Field 

When It’s Ignored: The “Copy-Paste” Disaster 

I once worked with a company that ran a cyber exercise using a fully automated script they’d purchased. The injects were technically correct, but generic. Leaders disengaged within 20 minutes, joking that the “attack” didn’t even match their business model. When a real incident hit six months later, their response faltered because they’d never been truly tested. 

When It’s Done Right: The Adaptive Facilitator 

Contrast that with another client: a multinational consumer products company. Midway through an exercise, the CSO challenged whether the “YouTube” inject was realistic. I pushed back, adding a real-time social media thread from a recent industry incident. The room went silent. Leaders leaned in, debating strategy for over an hour. Post-exercise, the comms team overhauled its escalation protocol. That’s the value of human facilitation—knowing when to press harder and when to let the team find its footing. 

Common Mistake: Thinking “AI = Efficiency” Means “AI = Effectiveness” 

It’s easy to believe that because AI saves time, it automatically improves results. In exercises, the opposite is often true. Efficiency without engagement leads to box-checking. And in a real crisis, checking the box won’t save your reputation, your market share, or your people. 

What AI Can Do for Exercises 

Don’t get me wrong—I use AI all the time. It’s a powerful ally in: 

• Drafting injects (e.g., fake news articles or regulator emails) 
• Generating some (not all) visuals (maps, dashboards, or mock social media feeds) 
• Offering “what if” variations to expand scenario possibilities 
• Speeding up after-action report drafting by analyzing transcripts 

But these are support tools. They enhance the human-led process—they don’t replace it. Think of AI as the assistant chef who chops the vegetables. The head chef still crafts the meal. 

Takeaway: Your Checklist for Future-Proof Exercises 

When you’re planning your next exercise, keep these steps in mind: 

• Use AI for support, not substitution. Let it help generate ideas, but ensure a facilitator tailors them to your business. 
• Prioritize facilitation skills. Choose facilitators who can read the room, manage tension, and adapt injects in real time. 
• Engage your leaders authentically. Don’t settle for canned scripts; create scenarios that feel real to your executives. 
• Debrief deeply. Focus less on whether the injects were clever, more on what behaviors and gaps emerged. 
• Balance efficiency with effectiveness. Saving prep time isn’t worth it if your leaders leave unchallenged. 

Final Thoughts 

AI is a powerful enabler. But when it comes to testing leadership under fire, guiding tough conversations, and surfacing blind spots, there’s no substitute for a skilled facilitator. 

So, will AI take my job as an exercise facilitator? Not in this decade. Because in the end, crisis management is about people—messy, unpredictable, inspiring people. And preparing people to lead through chaos is still a very human job. 

If you’d like to learn more about how PreparedEx blends the best of AI tools with experienced facilitation, let’s talk. Or explore our resources to see how your next exercise can push your team beyond the script and into true readiness. 

Take Action Today  

Technology will continue to evolve, but resilience is still a human skill. The best exercises challenge leaders, uncover blind spots, and build confidence for when it matters most.  Reach out to PreparedEx to see how we combine proven facilitation with smart use of AI to strengthen your team’s readiness.