If AI Adoption were an Ice Rink

The current state of AI adoption in the workplace looks like a community ice rink. Comfort and levels of adoption range from holding onto the wall and slowly skating a loop without falling, to hockey players skating fast without padding, and semi-pros pirouetting in the center. In a workplace setting this can look like no formalized AI adoption process or “Shadow AI Use” (using personal AI tools for workplace tasks) to preemptive layoffs in favor of promised productivity and profit gains, to the ability of larger firms to deploy customized, high priced solutions. The AI adoption landscape is vast but at the center of this fast-moving, sometimes messy shift are humans and their jobs- if not careers.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is quoted by CNBC as saying, "It's very clear that AI is going to change literally every job…Maybe there’s a job in the world that AI won’t change, but I haven’t thought of it.” The article goes on to detail how along with other big names like Amazon’s Andy Jassy and Ford’s Jim Farley, Walmart is going to downsize their corporate workforce in favor of AI tools and agents. The business giant plans to simultaneously freeze their headcount while increasing profits.The tantalizing equation of less payroll and more money is enticing CEOs and boards across industries; but there are few examples of 100% successful downsizing plus tech scenarios. 

The article goes on to explain that after the hiring freeze and consecutive downsizing on the corporate side, Walmart plans to move on to their warehouse operations with the same strategy. McMillon suggests that workers who want to stay relevant and competitive need to be adaptable and learn how to leverage new AI tools. However, theory and practice are two different things. According to CNBC, 

“The ability to use these new AI tools effectively and productively is already a major challenge for many workers. In a September survey of 1,150 full-time U.S. desk workers, conducted by BetterUp and Stanford University, 40% of respondents reported receiving AI-generated ‘workslop’ or work produced by AI tools that ‘masquerades as productivity’ but actually falls short of human-produced work and can typically take hours for a human worker to fix.”

Maybe more importantly, humans possess nuance, empathy, and soft skills like communication and critical thinking, that so far have not been so easily replicated by AI. Canadian AI company, Cohere, is taking a different ideological approach while developing AI tools for today’s workplace. The company utilizes their tool “North” in tandem with human operators- maximizing the benefits of both. Time quotes Cohere’s Co-Founder, Nick Frosst’s comparison of the impact to today’s workforce to that of the industrial revolution,“When there were massive transitions in the labor market, a lot of what was solved was at the government level, the union level…This is a problem beyond any individual, and we need to address it as a collective.”

Just like it is highly unlikely that the crowd at the community ice rink will join in group skating lessons or divide the rink into skill and safety levels, there is no uniform advanced tech adoption policy or AI literacy program. Private business is just that- private- and how a CEO chooses to include tech and scale is their prerogative. It is important to ask, however, are we truly maximizing all our resources? AI can be amazing, but so can humans. There is a way to leverage both. Give humans the dignity of learning new skills and continuing to grow in the business and keep their careers. Job titles and skill sets evolve with the time, but preemptive layoffs can result in costly loss of braintrust when AI has not yet proven its worth. Thoughtful, targeted, and scalable AI adoption is possible. Keep asking questions and find strategies designed for you, your team, your business, no one else.

Image Credit: Freepik