Don’t fret, and don’t fight, the artificial intelligence wave. Instead, be an educator. Get out ahead of it and make it work in a positive way for everyone around you. The good news is you don’t have to be a techie to take a leadership role with AI.
That’s the word from Ab DeWeese, a venture capitalist and consultant, who explains, in his latest book, Essential AI: Your All-in-One Quickstart to Using AI in Business and the Workplace, that the rise of AI is demanding clear-headed leadership. “Be the change – become an AI advocate,” he urges.
As AI has massive potential, “the more we each take responsibility for understanding it and sharing our knowledge, the better off we will be,” he says. AI advocates can not only make their jobs more future-ready, but also add value to the worlds around them.
“Whether you’re just AI-curious or you’re an AI enthusiast and early adopter, you have a unique opportunity to act as an educator, champion, and agent of change, helping others see the immense value and potential of AI as you leverage them yourself,” DeWeese observes. The role also provides “a chance to share the vital nature of AI guardrails and how to avoid AI risks.”
“In our AI future, power, career success, and compensation is going to concentrate among those with AI skills and knowledge,” he adds. By bringing AI to the workplace in a fair and effective way, one can become an agent of positive change, “the go-to guru showing others how to work less to produce more, freeing up their creativity and productivity.”
DeWeese makes several recommendations for designing an AI advocacy role:
- Start with education. “Provide clear, straightforward information about what AI is, how it works, and how it can enhance productivity and efficiency. Use simple language and relatable examples to demystify AI. Get them working with AI yourself and invite them to engage them immediately with your help. Or sit next to them and show them what it looks like and how to get started. As you’ve seen yourself, once you become familiar with it, it becomes easier immediately.”
- Demonstrate the tangible benefits of AI. “Show, don’t just tell. Use real-life examples and case studies to illustrate how AI solves specific problems or simplifies tasks. The more concrete and relevant your examples, the more compelling your case will be.”
- Share examples of where AI has been successful. “Stories are powerful—they make the abstract concrete and the unfamiliar familiar. Show co-workers “what a productive, problem-solving AI session looks like. These examples can motivate and reassure those who are hesitant about change.”
- Choose a complex task co-workers may have and help work it with them. For example, a customer service representative may have an idea for a process improvement they’d like to demonstrate to their manager, DeWeese advises. “Show them how they can use AI to articulate a concept they may still be struggling to get clear. This process isn‘t just for people with highly developed skills and jobs. It’s incredibly helpful for people at any level with ideas they want to develop.”
- Help co-workers develop prompt development skills. “Work the task with them by helping craft a prompt for AI that might look like this: ‘I am proposing a new process improvement to my boss. Please help me develop this idea into a clearly articulated, benefit-and result-oriented proposal.’ Work with AI iteratively to develop this idea until it’s in a compelling, coherent form.”
- Address concerns head-on. “Don’t shy away from tough conversations. Acknowledge fears about job security and explain how AI can augment, rather than replace, human capabilities. Point out the benefits you’ve seen and learned about, like saving time and producing interesting new results. Explain how a highly developed AI understanding will set them apart in our AI future. Explain how humans are critical, especially those who can manage AI technology.”
- Encourage hands-on experience. “The most effective way to convert skeptics is to let them experience AI firsthand,” DeWeese states. “Invite colleagues to collaborate with you and see the benefits for themselves. This practical, hands-on experience can demystify AI and demonstrate its value in a way that words alone cannot.”
- Have fun with it. “If you don’t have a specific work task to work on together, use AI to research something fun, like activities you can do together, an upcoming vacation, or writing a song.”
Ultimately, humans matter more than machines ever will. The key is to impress tis upon co-workers – and be the change.
