What does good performance look like in the age of AI?

Performance reviews must evolve from task-based evaluations to assessments of human judgment as AI increasingly automates routine outputs. Traditional annual reviews, largely unchanged since the mid-20th century, suffer from recency bias and fail to distinguish between AI-generated efficiency and genuine employee value. While AI can supercharge productivity, the true differentiator for modern workers lies in their ability to validate AI outputs and manage the "ripple effects" of automated tasks. Managers face a growing challenge in identifying high performance, illustrated by a case where average employees became "superstars" through AI adoption while former high performers fell behind. Organizations must decide whether to reward the behavior of AI utilization itself or focus on the human-in-the-loop judgment required to make sense of automated processes. Ultimately, the age of AI necessitates a shift toward value-centric growth models that may eventually render the conventional performance review obsolete.