I’m reading that even now many companies at the management level want to pretend Generative AI hasn’t happened, and resourceful employees who try it out do it in stealth mode, partly because of the stigma that they are “cheating” if not using “their own brains”.
More broadly, in the context of your main point, (and maybe you’ve written about this) I’d say that’s it’s going to be bit of an on-going discovery process to figure out what is the right blend of top-down AI imposition/organization versus a bottom-up emergence of eventually team-wide AI use.
Thanks for the comment, Ash. To turn chaos into collaboration, a coordinated approach supported by leadership will be necessary. The more I read and research, the more convinced I am that push will come to shove for some orgs.
AI Babel is the perfect name for what’s happening right now. There is a company I know where HR is chatting with a resume bot, Product’s prototyping with Claude, and Marketing’s treating ChatGPT like a team member. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone trained a model to write meeting excuses. Definitely overdue for a shared dialect and governance before we all end up lost in translation, Paul.
You would know better than me, Neela. I'm not in the corporate world -- never have been -- so my understanding is limited. (That's never stopped me from letting my reach exceed my grasp. Heh)
Do you see this problem as endemic? Are corporations creating and deploying disparate models en masse?
I need to hire you to be my eyes and ears out there.
Bottom line: I need to do a lot of research to find out what the landscape looks like.
So, to analogize, they've opened a Pandora's Box that can't be shut. I have some understanding of what needs to be done, but give me your take. And who is responsible for implementing and overseeing the shift to more coordination and governance?
The challenge is that AI adoption is rarely deliberate.
Tools creep in through enthusiastic individuals, not policy.
Ideally, oversight comes from a cross functional AI council.
Something with representation from IT, Legal, HR, Ops, and maybe even Comms to ensure both innovation and alignment.
But in practice, someone has to raise their hand first. Often, it’s a forward-thinking CIO, Head of Data, or even a Chief Risk Officer.
It’s often led by enthusiasts in silos rather than by leadership with a long view.
+
People are afraid because the media keeps saying that AI is coming for their jobs.
Ideally, you need three pillars in place -
Executive sponsorship - Someone in the C-suite must prioritize this, not just fund it, but embed it into company OKRs. Often that’s the COO or CTO.
Cross-functional governance - Not just IT. You need legal, HR, marketing, and ops at the table. AI touches people, brand voice, and risk.
A strategy steward - This might be an emerging role - Head of AI Enablement, AI Product Owner, or even a hybrid role in the PMO. Someone needs to coordinate the learning, tool adoption, and prompt ops across teams.
It does, indeed. Thank you for this input. You have such expertise. How much do I owe you for this consult? I'm not kidding. Should I decide to go down this rabbit trail, my next step is to develop a roadmap to develop solutions I can sell. Of course, McKinsey is probably all over it.
I’m reading that even now many companies at the management level want to pretend Generative AI hasn’t happened, and resourceful employees who try it out do it in stealth mode, partly because of the stigma that they are “cheating” if not using “their own brains”.
More broadly, in the context of your main point, (and maybe you’ve written about this) I’d say that’s it’s going to be bit of an on-going discovery process to figure out what is the right blend of top-down AI imposition/organization versus a bottom-up emergence of eventually team-wide AI use.
Thanks for the comment, Ash. To turn chaos into collaboration, a coordinated approach supported by leadership will be necessary. The more I read and research, the more convinced I am that push will come to shove for some orgs.
Hah!
AI Babel is the perfect name for what’s happening right now. There is a company I know where HR is chatting with a resume bot, Product’s prototyping with Claude, and Marketing’s treating ChatGPT like a team member. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone trained a model to write meeting excuses. Definitely overdue for a shared dialect and governance before we all end up lost in translation, Paul.
Will look out next week :)
You would know better than me, Neela. I'm not in the corporate world -- never have been -- so my understanding is limited. (That's never stopped me from letting my reach exceed my grasp. Heh)
Do you see this problem as endemic? Are corporations creating and deploying disparate models en masse?
I need to hire you to be my eyes and ears out there.
Bottom line: I need to do a lot of research to find out what the landscape looks like.
Endemic might be putting it mildly, Paul.
Most companies are caught between curiosity and chaos. There’s appetite for AI, but not enough connective tissue.
So what happens? Every team experiments in a vacuum. Tools multiply. Costs creep. Risk blooms.
Alignment is missing. Shared principles, prompt libraries, and clear guardrails.
So, to analogize, they've opened a Pandora's Box that can't be shut. I have some understanding of what needs to be done, but give me your take. And who is responsible for implementing and overseeing the shift to more coordination and governance?
correct Paul.
The challenge is that AI adoption is rarely deliberate.
Tools creep in through enthusiastic individuals, not policy.
Ideally, oversight comes from a cross functional AI council.
Something with representation from IT, Legal, HR, Ops, and maybe even Comms to ensure both innovation and alignment.
But in practice, someone has to raise their hand first. Often, it’s a forward-thinking CIO, Head of Data, or even a Chief Risk Officer.
It’s often led by enthusiasts in silos rather than by leadership with a long view.
+
People are afraid because the media keeps saying that AI is coming for their jobs.
Ideally, you need three pillars in place -
Executive sponsorship - Someone in the C-suite must prioritize this, not just fund it, but embed it into company OKRs. Often that’s the COO or CTO.
Cross-functional governance - Not just IT. You need legal, HR, marketing, and ops at the table. AI touches people, brand voice, and risk.
A strategy steward - This might be an emerging role - Head of AI Enablement, AI Product Owner, or even a hybrid role in the PMO. Someone needs to coordinate the learning, tool adoption, and prompt ops across teams.
Hope this helps.........
It does, indeed. Thank you for this input. You have such expertise. How much do I owe you for this consult? I'm not kidding. Should I decide to go down this rabbit trail, my next step is to develop a roadmap to develop solutions I can sell. Of course, McKinsey is probably all over it.
You can buy me a whisky whenever we meet face to face :)