Super cool to these insights presented in this clear format.
I can relate a lot to the experimenters. Wanting to know what the hype is all about and trying to find a use case that fits for them. I still remember when I said that AI was a "glorified text predictor".
It wasn't until this explosion of different models, modalities, and tools built on top of them that things didn't "click" for me.
Now I'm no longer thinking about different tools for different use cases, but building my own tools or "stack" on top of open-source.
In a way, if we're getting dependent on AI for improved work, it's better to have something of our onw.
This survey highlights a crucial insight. Leaders aren’t just adopting AI; they’re learning to balance trust, verification, and creative augmentation, showing that effective AI use is as much about mindset as technology.
That’s great! To your question, to me it often goes into hardcoding into the memory to play devils advocate and ask probing questions to better understand issues
There are some helpful frameworks such as CRIT (context, role, interview, task) around prompting AI/assigning a 'role' whereby you can have it help you think critically, surface bias and assumptions instead of giving you a straight up polished (or worse hallucinated) answer
Yes! Frameworks like CRIT are a great starting point as they give AI a role and context, which helps avoid hallucinated or overly polished outputs. 🙌
Where I see the real power is when you combine that with a simple system that encourages reflection and deliberate questioning, so every AI interaction challenges your thinking instead of just filling in blanks.
I'd argue there's a fourth user type hiding in your data: the Strategic Skeptics. These are leaders using AI daily but deliberately constraining their usage to specific high-value applications where they've built verification systems. They're not experimenting, but they're also not going all-in.
This resonates. We’re using AI regularly now, but not casually. The value is real, and so are the risks. It can be wrong, confidently so, and poor prompts can lead to misleading conclusions. That’s forcing us to be much more intentional about where and how it’s used.
This is a set of really cool insights. Thanks for sharing. I’ve been using AI a lot recently and recognise myself in some of the above. I’m delighted to see that leaders recognise they don’t want skills to atrophy.
I read that the average adult age of a DAU on ChatGPT is 26 - so there is an huge generational difference between heavy users and not using AI at all...
Wow, great data driven insights in here! My concern as a leader is the mindset gap. I’m willing to learn and practice AI but not everyone wants to stretch. Some people just want comfort tools and a predictable day.
So… do we start hiring for AI fluency or AI savvy or keep trying to train people who don’t actually want to adapt? AI is learnable but the mindset isn’t always.🩷🦩
Really enjoyed this survey, Joel. The paradoxes you surfaced match what I see across teams and clients. Leaders are using AI constantly, yet still hesitate to trust it. They want the time savings, but they cannot find the activation energy to build the workflows that would actually give them that time back. And the gap between wanting agents and actually using agents feels very real.
What struck me most was how many people are treating AI as a thinking partner rather than a task machine. That aligns with what I explore in Collaborate Better where leaders get the most value when they use AI to think clearer, not to simply polish their output.
This survey is a strong snapshot of where we actually are today, rather than where the hype cycle tells us we should be. Thanks for putting this together.
All of these are highly relatable. I've found with #2, that I was trying to dedicate blocks of time during the day to "learn AI". But in reality, I found that as situations or challenges came up, I would just turn to it first and ask instead of trying to find the perfect time in my day (and context switch accordingly) to use the tool.
#4 is what my peers and I are talking about constantly. In a world where headcount continues to stay frozen or doesn't really grow at all, how can you leverage these tools as a force multiplier for you and your team? The promise is clearly there because we can all feel it, but going from tinkering and experiments to something actually running autonomously without much human intervention remains elusive.
Oh this is so cool to read, I really think much of what's here is felt by power AI users accross the globe. Thank you for sharing! Getting these tools to be a force multiplier is really the key, and that is different for everyone.
Excellent data-driven insights here. Many organisations see the potential benefits of AI but are unwilling to invest the time/resource required to implement effectively. Certainly in the UK, it’s an economically tough time and the rewards will take time.
Great report. I am seeing similar patterns in my conversation and work with leaders as well as my own experiments. There's a new tool everyday to learn.
This sentence: "On what would transform their leadership most, 27% of leaders named the same capability: Agents and automation that handle entire workflows, not just individual tasks." The deeper question is what are they really wanting here? Its mentioned efficiency and savings but why's that important? I think there's some deeper human needs here that can be surfaced through conversations!
Yes, sounds pretty accurate.
I think there are something like 2.5 billion Ai chats/day. Crazy.
wow, that's insane
Yes, and that's just ChatGPT.
Adoption always gets messy when the pace outruns the trust.
100%, it's tough
Super cool to these insights presented in this clear format.
I can relate a lot to the experimenters. Wanting to know what the hype is all about and trying to find a use case that fits for them. I still remember when I said that AI was a "glorified text predictor".
It wasn't until this explosion of different models, modalities, and tools built on top of them that things didn't "click" for me.
Now I'm no longer thinking about different tools for different use cases, but building my own tools or "stack" on top of open-source.
In a way, if we're getting dependent on AI for improved work, it's better to have something of our onw.
Love that insight! And I feel like in the early days of ChatGPT 3, it really was not much more than a glorified chat predictor.
So I was partly right 😆😆
This survey highlights a crucial insight. Leaders aren’t just adopting AI; they’re learning to balance trust, verification, and creative augmentation, showing that effective AI use is as much about mindset as technology.
That’s it 👍 exactly
Using AI daily while questioning every output.
“My Accountability Partner” helps me create a system around that uncertainty, turning tools into clarity instead of chaos.
How do you make sure AI challenges your thinking rather than just polishing it?
That’s great! To your question, to me it often goes into hardcoding into the memory to play devils advocate and ask probing questions to better understand issues
It’s all about Deeper Understanding
There are some helpful frameworks such as CRIT (context, role, interview, task) around prompting AI/assigning a 'role' whereby you can have it help you think critically, surface bias and assumptions instead of giving you a straight up polished (or worse hallucinated) answer
Yes! Frameworks like CRIT are a great starting point as they give AI a role and context, which helps avoid hallucinated or overly polished outputs. 🙌
Where I see the real power is when you combine that with a simple system that encourages reflection and deliberate questioning, so every AI interaction challenges your thinking instead of just filling in blanks.
Yes, those are great! I’ve just found they are a little complex for the average user
I'd argue there's a fourth user type hiding in your data: the Strategic Skeptics. These are leaders using AI daily but deliberately constraining their usage to specific high-value applications where they've built verification systems. They're not experimenting, but they're also not going all-in.
Awesome post.
I love that, Laura! Great point, that’s actually a huge group now that I think about it
This resonates. We’re using AI regularly now, but not casually. The value is real, and so are the risks. It can be wrong, confidently so, and poor prompts can lead to misleading conclusions. That’s forcing us to be much more intentional about where and how it’s used.
Yes!!! Not blind trust, intentional trust
This is a set of really cool insights. Thanks for sharing. I’ve been using AI a lot recently and recognise myself in some of the above. I’m delighted to see that leaders recognise they don’t want skills to atrophy.
That’s awesome Sean! Reach out if I can help in any way
I read that the average adult age of a DAU on ChatGPT is 26 - so there is an huge generational difference between heavy users and not using AI at all...
Oh wow, yes that’s huge
Wow, great data driven insights in here! My concern as a leader is the mindset gap. I’m willing to learn and practice AI but not everyone wants to stretch. Some people just want comfort tools and a predictable day.
So… do we start hiring for AI fluency or AI savvy or keep trying to train people who don’t actually want to adapt? AI is learnable but the mindset isn’t always.🩷🦩
I’ve seen that too. It’s not enough to put it on a job description, it really is a mindset
Leaders want AI agents to run entire workflows, yet almost none use them. Strange how we crave a future we hesitate to build.
Juan that is so well said!
Really enjoyed this survey, Joel. The paradoxes you surfaced match what I see across teams and clients. Leaders are using AI constantly, yet still hesitate to trust it. They want the time savings, but they cannot find the activation energy to build the workflows that would actually give them that time back. And the gap between wanting agents and actually using agents feels very real.
What struck me most was how many people are treating AI as a thinking partner rather than a task machine. That aligns with what I explore in Collaborate Better where leaders get the most value when they use AI to think clearer, not to simply polish their output.
This survey is a strong snapshot of where we actually are today, rather than where the hype cycle tells us we should be. Thanks for putting this together.
Love that! Yeah collaboration really is the key. I'll need to learn more about your collaborate better initiative!
All of these are highly relatable. I've found with #2, that I was trying to dedicate blocks of time during the day to "learn AI". But in reality, I found that as situations or challenges came up, I would just turn to it first and ask instead of trying to find the perfect time in my day (and context switch accordingly) to use the tool.
#4 is what my peers and I are talking about constantly. In a world where headcount continues to stay frozen or doesn't really grow at all, how can you leverage these tools as a force multiplier for you and your team? The promise is clearly there because we can all feel it, but going from tinkering and experiments to something actually running autonomously without much human intervention remains elusive.
Oh this is so cool to read, I really think much of what's here is felt by power AI users accross the globe. Thank you for sharing! Getting these tools to be a force multiplier is really the key, and that is different for everyone.
Great data, thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it!
Excellent data-driven insights here. Many organisations see the potential benefits of AI but are unwilling to invest the time/resource required to implement effectively. Certainly in the UK, it’s an economically tough time and the rewards will take time.
Great report. I am seeing similar patterns in my conversation and work with leaders as well as my own experiments. There's a new tool everyday to learn.
This sentence: "On what would transform their leadership most, 27% of leaders named the same capability: Agents and automation that handle entire workflows, not just individual tasks." The deeper question is what are they really wanting here? Its mentioned efficiency and savings but why's that important? I think there's some deeper human needs here that can be surfaced through conversations!
Everyone is on their own change curve with AI.