At the time of writing, it's February 2025. I would like to preface this post with the awareness that even 6 months or a year from now, the opinions I have on the matter may change based on the advancement of AI.

A second preface is that the term AI is used very loosely here, because it could mean a chatbot, an AGI advancement a robotics project or even brain-tissue based systems, the point is this AI term encapsulates the pinnacle of technology as we reach the first quarter of the 21st century.

People who have thought about this topic longer than I have already noticed the separation between people aware of AI and people who use it as an almost magical tool. See some potential books to read at the end of this blog. I'd like to focus the topic on the latter half and reflect on some changes in the industry that are happening as we integrate AI within our companies.

AI Policy - Everyone needs to have one

A corporation is formed with people from various age groups, each with their own unique experience and learnings. Broadly speaking, older generations provide a mature, person-based approach to work. Whereas younger generations integrate disruptive technology and new ideas, providing a technologically integrated approach to doing work. When both age groups work together, each benefits from the teachings of one another. For example, older workers are taught ways to automate repetitive tasks and younger workers are taught how to navigate social structures (politics) within a corporate system.

This teaching and learning comes naturally - to an extent. Some gaps still need to be addressed. Namely, the gap of assumption. People of different technological skill levels may assume other individuals are aware of unspoken rules within the tools that are used. For example, it's not clear to most people that AI still requires prompting or even clear examples to provide good information. Someone may look use a AI and expect sophisticated answers, only to be disappointed to find out that their new instance of Claude is a little dry or lacking depth.

That's where corporate AI policies come in. Its the perfect place to put in general guidance for AI training, data safety, security and where or when using AI is acceptable in the office. Without a policy set by upper management, you are essentially allowing every individual to use tools that may cause problems such as copyright or other legal issues.

Focus on Up-Skilling and Team Improvement

There's a deeper layer of learning that needs to be addressed here. All legal issues aside, let's pretend the organization has covered their butts in every way and you have an internal instance of AI running as an aide in the organization so data security is also not an issue. In a perfect world, AI is used to remove redundancies in an organization. It can send and read emails, schedule appointments and provide a cheap executive assistant for each individual.

But what about the tasks that cause us more stress, or require specialized learning? Technical writing, planning, people management, and human factors are just some jobs that AI could do for us. But should it?

I saw this reliance when I was in academia and I see it now in industry. Instead of taking the time to learn how to do something properly people outsource the difficulty of learning to an AI. Removing them from the uncomfortable feeling of learning but also removing themselves from the satisfaction and the skill building that come from it.

As younger people enter the workforce with strong AI skills, they may lack the very skills that were used to build the AI in the first place. I have experienced this firsthand. As an electrical engineer with a Masters, I struggle with the tactile skills to apply the concepts of electricity in real life. I often tell people just because I am an electrical engineer it does not mean I am an electrician. I can read wiring diagrams but I have no tactical skills in twisting, cutting, shaping, hauling or placing wire. That's a skill I did not develop.

I think it comes down to encouraging anyone using AI to remain curious and to continue learning about themselves and the tasks that they do. After all, you wouldn't hire a carpenter who only knows how to draw tables. Likewise, you shouldn't hire a writer who only knows how to enter ideas into AI. The future of an employee or even a successful business will be in management's ability to continue to foster training and education of their personnel to retain skills and learning in the digital age.