The Two Types Of AI Leaders In The Workplace

‘Skeptics’ and ‘realists’ have differing perspectives on AI, according to one study.

A new study reveals that AI leaders in the workplace fall into two distinct camps when it comes to their more personal thoughts about AI.

The Adaptavist Group, a global technology consulting firm, studied 900 professionals across the U.S. U.K., Canada, and Germany, who oversaw AI adoption in their workplaces. The professionals included C-level executives, vice presidents, directors, and managers.

The study found that the professionals were either AI “skeptics” who believed their companies’ AI claims to be “over-inflated,” or AI “realists” who did not feel the same.

Skeptics Wary On AI

Skeptics were the dominant group among those studied, with 42 percent of the professionals falling into that category.

Risk-aversion was more prevalent among skeptics, the study found. Sixty-five percent said their company’s stance on AI puts customers at risk of financial, psychological, or physical harm.

There was no correlation with being either a skeptic or realist and an organization’s AI spending, the study suggested.

Thirty-four percent of skeptics spent between $1.3 million and $13.4 million implementing AI in the last 12 months, and 8 percent invested over $13 million.

That’s a negligible difference from realists’ AI spending — 31 percent and 6 percent—respectively.

Despite similar spending habits, 74 percent of skeptics believe that there are too many AI tools being introduced too soon, versus 24 percent of realists.

Overall, skeptics were also warier about AI, according to the report. Skeptics attributed “pressure” rather than “results” as the prime driver of AI adoption in their workplaces. Forty-two percent reported hiding their AI usage due to fear of repercussions.

Skeptics’ outlook on AI’s impact on jobs wasn’t much brighter. Sixty-seven percent are concerned that AI places jobs at risk, and a whopping 80 percent said that their organization was leveraging AI to reduce headcount.

Realists Report More Results

Realists were more positive in their responses about AI than the skeptics. Not only do they feel as though their organizations are transparent about AI’s value, but fifty-eight percent said AI improved work quality, notably, time savings and increased productivity.

AI ethics and plagiarism issues were less likely to be reported by realists than by skeptics. Worries over AI hallucinations are of less concern to realists than skeptics, 21 percent versus 72 percent, according to the study.

“The contrast between leaders who are confident in their organization's AI journey and those grappling with poor outcomes, rushed implementations, and a reluctant workforce is stark,” said Jon Mort, chief technology officer, The Adaptavist Group, in a statement.

“Which side of the coin your company lands on appears to depend on perception, but there are factors beneath which create those perceptions. Organizations who treat AI tools simply as replacements for existing jobs or tasks, without considering their system of work as a whole, are set up to fail. Pushed to ‘just adopt’ without considering training and time to test, refine, and build the right support structures, leaders are far more likely to find themselves in a culture of fear around AI and diminished confidence in the value of human input,” Mort said.