What the coach described
When Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald told The Athletic that AI is part of how his team prepares, some fans reacted as if it were a threat. "Hope it costs 'em games," one wrote. Others joked that the next bad play would be blamed on Copilot. Nothing in the coverage says AI informed any game decision.
His own use, as reported, is smaller. He records all of his meetings and uses Copilot to pull out notes and highlights, so that players and coaches get a consistent message week over week. His football analysis staff use other tools on film and data. He framed the value as time: "You might get to the same answer, but if you get to it three days earlier, that's super valuable."
Why the quiet use is the useful one
A leader who speaks to the same group every week carries a version of the message in memory. The group carries the version it heard. Over months the two drift apart, and the speaker is the last to notice, because the memory feels like the record.
Starting with your own words has practical advantages. You are not exposing a colleague's draft or a customer's file to a new tool. The material already exists. You are the person best placed to judge whether the summary got you right. And the result is something you can act on without asking anyone's permission.
Running it in your own meetings
Pick one recurring meeting. Keep short notes, or a transcript only where everyone present has agreed to recording.
After a month, ask for a comparison. Give AI the notes and ask for the three things you stressed in each meeting, side by side, and anything that appeared early and vanished.
Say what you find. If a priority fell away without being retired, name it at the next meeting and either restore it or close it out loud.
The limit worth keeping
Macdonald is plain about this too: "Sometimes you're gonna have bad data in, bad data out." A comparison built from thin notes is thin. Treat the output as a prompt to check your own memory against the record, not as a verdict on how the team heard you.
Habits like this stick when a team builds them together: Build habits like this into how your team works →
Keep reading: Your team will follow the plan exactly and it will still fail · Five hours a week came back. Nobody said where they should go.
This is the thinking behind a Trusted AI Culture.
Sources: The Athletic, "Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks are 'chasing edges.' What does that really look like?" September 17, 2026. Bleacher Report, "Seahawks' AI use detailed," September 17, 2026. Pro Football Network via Yahoo Sports, "'Getting Out of Control,' 'Hope It Costs Them Games': NFL Fans React to Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald Using AI for Preparation," September 18, 2026.
Written with AI in the loop: my idea, AI drafted and sharpened, my judgment on the way out. Every word is mine to stand behind. — Darren