Workers have read the memo on AI usage. Managers need to act on it.
If you are a worker in America today the message is clear and unequivocal: you won't lose your job to an AI: you'll lose your job to someone who uses AI. This new reality has caused workers to rush to solutions like ChatGPT and Cursor, which are setting unbelievable user growth records as adoption explodes. After the Shopify memo, the Duolingo dialog, the Klarna debacle, and the IBM worker reorientation, workers have gotten the message: AI is the must have resume skill. In a rush to preserve what little security remains in the current job market, workers are stepping up.
Which made it really surprising to find this nugget in the back of the latest Mary Meeker report released by Bond. Mary is famous for her data driven insights during the Internet age, and has now shifted her eye to the rapidly evolving world of AI, which in velocity of change is outstripping the most heady days of the Internet boom.
On page 328 of that report Meeker shows a graph indicating that the greatest penetration of AI technology to create or provide goods or services, in the Information category, is a mere 20% of firms, with another 5% indicating they will be doing so in the next six months.
This tells us that managers are struggling.
In a vast majority of American companies management has yet to take on accountability for realizing the productivity and efficiency expected through the implementation of AI. A previous slide in the same report indicates that a much larger number of firms, possibly up to 75%, are 'experimenting' with AI.
The word 'experimenting' is code for 'we asked employees to look into it but have implemented no structure or program to normalize it's usage.' The productivity gains expected from AI usage will not materialize through the personal experimentation of workers, however motivated they may be. To make that happen, Managers must step up.
In many cases they may not know how.
In fairness, the velocity of change in AI makes it difficult to know what to do. Yesterday Anthropic reduced the price of one its premiere models by an astounding 80%. Last week ChatGPT got a load of new features that change the game. Apple just released a report questioning the whole premise that models reason. In a rapidly changing landscape it is easy to hang back, fearful that any decisions you make, about which tool or which model to use and how to use them, will be invalidated by the next set of disruptive press releases before they can even be implemented.
For managers to succeed in trapping and directing the potential of AI it will be necessary to approach the adoption of AI as a long term organizational process challenge, as opposed to a simple decision at a single point in time about which specific tool to use. This change in thinking unlocks a productive path forward, allowing for intentional achievement of goals while accommodating inevitable significant changes in AI tools attributes and capabilities.
To outline this organizational challenge and help managers focus on the key areas within it where time and attention are most needed within their own organization we have partnered with humanAIze consultancy LLC to produce an AI readiness assessment, some dimensions of which are shown on this infographic:
Our quick and free online assessment evaluates your company’s readiness to implement AI in a scalable, responsible, and impactful way. But this change in thinking and the results of surveys like this can make it almost seem worse: now instead of one or two incredibly confusing decisions, a complete organizational overhaul is on the table? The temptation to retreat even further grows ever larger.
Not to worry. The Intelligent Transformation Framework™ developed by humanAIze and Carta Consulting emphasizes the integration of AI into existing processes and practices, making the challenge more of a refresh than a restart.
Workers are motivated and seeking structure and guidance on how to succeed. The integration of AI into their daily routine through integration into existing process and governance will ground their activities in best practice, while enabling managers to take accountability for the benefits an intentional AI implementation can provide.
If managers must step up, for their workers and themselves, this is what stepping up looks like.
Most AI projects fail—not because of the technology, but because the organization wasn’t ready. We help organizations align people, processes, data, and technology for long-term success in the intelligence era. Our free assessment will help you evaluate your company’s readiness to implement AI in a scalable, responsible, and impactful way. Click the link, or give us a call, and lets move forward together to realize the opportunity AI holds before us.