7 Outdated Beliefs About AI — And How to Break Through Them
As we explore with leaders the possibilities of AI within their organizations, we often hear hesitations. We are met with perceptions that tend to limit the value realization AI can deliver both personally and corporately.
Certainly, legitimate concerns remain as AI evolves and continues to make headway throughout organizations. Data security, inaccuracies, personnel impact, governance, and others still are top of mind for most leaders.
Yet there is opportunity to examine how we think about AI. Can we reframe some of these concerns to open new possibilities for broader and quicker AI adoption?
Here are seven common limiting beliefs and how we might shift our perspectives.
1. “So many priorities…I don’t have time to learn AI.”
Packed calendars, numerous obligations, and endless meetings stand in the way of adding anything new for most executives. Their current priorities of “running the business” understandably take precedence over learning nuances of a new technology. Even if they believe AI is vital to their business objectives, leaders often cringe at giving up something to give AI a shot.
Reframe: The problem is actually the answer. The proven benefit of many AI applications is that they save time; they help us reallocate time to more value-add activities. Indeed, AI can take current workflows and replace repetitive tasks with automated processes. The net result is a positive ROI on the upfront time dedicated to learning and applying AI in productive ways. AI can help us work smarter so our time is flexible to spend as desired. The time invested is repaid many times over.
2. “I’m already using Gemini [pick a GPT], so I’ve got it covered.”
Since the introduction of ChatGPT a couple of years ago millions of people have used GPTs to accomplish, learn, create, enhance, or otherwise gain benefits hard to replicate elsewhere. These GPTs, of which there are now many thousands, were the initial gateway to an exciting world of artificial intelligence.
For most people, GPTs are the only exposure to AI. They remain incredibly powerful tools that continue to increase in power, efficiency, and speed. Leaders we collaborate with often point to the neat ways they are leveraging them for personal productivity. Writing assistant, email organizer, presentation outliner. There seems to be little inclination, though, to learn anything more. But there is so much more.
Reframe: Explore below the water line. ChatGPT is the tip of the AI iceberg and what lies underneath is an amazing, expanding, and very accessible collection of capabilities that can add value to any organization. From custom use of agents to ever-evolving ways to integrate AI seamlessly into existing systems, the possibilities extend well beyond one’s typical perspective of a cool AI app on their phone.
3. “We’ll wait till we can see proven ROI.”
Leaders want to be prudent with resources, making investments that have tangible benefits over specified time horizons. Although occasional AI studies reveal measurable aspects of AI integration, most tout conceptual benefits such as time savings, efficiencies, and enhanced leadership. So some leaders are cautious of going all-in on AI until their executive teams believe the investments of time, money, and effort will prove the hype true.
Reframe: Sidestep normal evaluation criteria. Rather than seeking verifiable financial returns, embrace AI as what it is…an enabling resource. Relax standard risk tolerances and adopt a crawl, walk, run approach to integrating it into your organization. As you gain nominal initial successes, perspectives on possible AI returns broaden; they may even arise in unexpected places. Have high expectations of potential benefits; prepare your teams for a winding journey that undoubtedly will yield positive returns…likely many you did not plan for.
4. “AI is still too fuzzy/complex/evolving for us to establish reasonable governance.”
Many leadership teams are wondering to what degree they need to “manage” their employees’ use of AI. They wrestle with somewhere between “general guidelines to provide direction yet encourage creativity” and “detailed and punitive policies for acceptable restricted use”. Leaders realize either extreme is not optimum but are uncertain how to concurrently endorse and govern this powerful technology.
Reframe: Let vision generate the energy and guidelines provide direction. Instead of wondering how to wrangle your employees into compliance, determine scenarios in which sensitive data mistakenly may be used or other risks generated. Then establish wise precautions and vigorously communicate them to all users. As AI evolves and use cases mature, you will discover that your governance will evolve with it. Efforts to lock down AI use will prolong effective implementation and delay enthusiastic adoption.
5. “I’m constantly inundated with AI tools and apps; it’s selection overload.”
There’s no shortage of software vendors racing to integrate some aspect of AI into their products so they can claim they’re “AI powered”. They want to capitalize on the marketplace’s fascination with the technology while it still means something. And daily there are revisions to LLMs and GPTs that tout their superiority or new apps that leverage a specific AI benefit. It’s daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
Reframe: Consider the hammer-and-nail metaphor. If we think of AI as a hammer and spend our efforts searching for potential nails (ways to use AI) in our firms, we easily can be overwhelmed with the constant new choices of hammers. Instead, start with a challenge to solve and explore if AI could be a viable aid or solution. If yes, focus on a few proven tools/apps. Apply learnings from those who have gone before you and don’t get distracted with the multitude of AI’s daily changes.
6. “I can dabble in it to get up to speed.”
In the age of DIY learning, many executives are confident in their ability to watch a few YouTube videos and take a couple of LinkedIn webinars to be AI proficient. They’ve been on that self-sufficient journey of exploring resources before with varying levels of success. And with the endless AI resources available, why is this a problem?
I’m not discouraging independent learning by any means. Heck, we use AI to learn about AI, don’t we? But piecing together insights from blogs, articles, and presentations is not a viable or sustainable method for a busy leader to be an effective AI advocate for those he/she leads.
Reframe: Earn your AI degree. Reconsider time investments as you would any other significant strategic functional responsibility. Isolate periods of guided instruction to go past superficial knowledge to a level of wisdom appropriate to be your firm’s AI champion. No need to be a technology whiz or a coding expert, but ensure you are equipped to lead informed AI planning and implementation. And remember, it’s not a one-and-done. Your learning should be ongoing.
7. “I’ve relegated AI to our CIO; it’s too technical for me.”
Though technology is omni-present throughout the marketplace, some leaders confess they are technology novices. They know enough to navigate their business landscape and have somewhat intelligent conversations about it. But AI has forced a new set of technology skills and principles onto their plate and it’s scary.
Caution naturally arises in leaders’ minds when they feel the AI discussion has gotten “out of their depth”. That’s why we’re seeing a couple of responses: either “help me to understand AI enough so I’m not embarrassed in front of my peers when we share about AI” or “I’m going to let our head of technology run with AI advancement”. Neither has to be the case.
Reframe: progressive hands-on use of AI instills confidence. Rethink AI not as a technology tool to use but as a decision partner with which to converse. In fact, most AI apps are integrating increasingly natural human interaction features such as voice prompts that generate immediate and thoughtful AI responses that have emotion, inflection, and sometimes appropriate humor. So try minor interactions that are risk-free. Explore the numerous ways to elicit the output your wish. Then gradually build on the depth and complexity of your use cases. It is not a technology to be feared; it’s simply a maturing application to build a relationship with.
Gary McClure is a senior consultant at Thrivence, a consulting firm specializing in strategy, leader development, organizational performance, and technology. For more than 15 years, Gary has led organizational transformation initiatives and taught leaders how to navigate successful change, including AI. He can be reached at gary.mcclure@thrivence.com. We offer a full suite of planning services, from in-depth discovery and strategy activities to implementation and communications expertise.
