Don’t become a meme: How to tell your team you’re going AI-first

For starters, be radically transparent. AI has become a trigger word for thousands of skilled professionals worldwide. From students booing commencement speeches celebrating AI as the next industrial revolution to thousands of laid-off employees, people are sick and tired of being reminded how replaceable they are. No one feels excitement at the prospect of being automated out of their job. No wonder that CEOs championing their AI initiatives and simultaneously laying off employees have been labeled tone-deaf, psychotic, apocalyptic, or delusional. Company announcements about going AI-first can quickly become PR nightmares. And if CEOs at Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI can afford to be cryptic and blunt, a small enterprise may not survive the public uproar.