An emerging framework
Every consequential decision you delegate is a loan.
The savings appear immediately. The obligation does not. It comes due when you need the decision back.
We are delegating more. We are removing more human intervention. And we sometimes need what we delegated back.
15%
of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024.
Gartner
27%
of CEOs expect their organizations to operate primarily without human intervention by 2028.
Gartner
70%
of executives have selectively brought previously outsourced work back in-house during the past five years.
Deloitte
What is Model Debt?
Model Debt is the obligation an organization takes on when it delegates a consequential decision to a system or external provider.
The debt is not the delegation itself. It is the risk that, over time, the people, knowledge, judgment, or processes needed to retake that decision become weaker or disappear. The obligation comes due when the organization needs the decision back.
Every Decision You Automate Is a Loan
The foundational article: the argument, evidence, and provisional Model Debt Rating.
Research
See how the assessment is being developed and apply to participate in the pilot.