We’re obsessed with perception—how AI makes us look and what it signals to the market, writes work futurist Dominic Price. What we need is perspective and a sense of how AI actually changes value.
If I read one more press release about “AI for productivity,” I may actually combust. Not in an interesting, Elon Musk rocket launch way…more in a cheap toaster sparking in a rental kitchen way.
Let’s start with a slightly inconvenient truth: in Atlassian’s recent global research, 96% of organisations reported no tangible benefit from their AI initiatives. None. Nada. Zilch. That’s not a rounding error—that’s a collective faceplant. And before anyone sharpens their pitchfork, this isn’t because the tech is bad. It’s because we’re asking it the wrong questions.
We’re obsessed with perception—how AI makes us look, what it signals to the market, how many times we can squeeze “AI-powered” into a slide deck before the fonts revolt. But what we need is perspective and a sense of proportion about where, why, and how AI actually changes value.
Perspective > Perception
When we talk about “AI boosting productivity,” we’re basically bragging about saving time without any clue what we’ll do with that time. It’s like celebrating buying a gym membership while never once stepping on the treadmill. Time saved is not a strategy. Time redeployedmight be.
The real opportunity is broader and far more human:
- Customers: How does AI help you anticipate their needs, reduce friction, and make the experience feel less like a bureaucratic obstacle course?
- Stakeholders & suppliers: How could AI improve collaboration, trust, transparency, and flow across your ecosystem, not just your org chart?
- Employees: How can AI create the conditions for people to thrive, not just type faster?
If you don’t know the “next best task” after AI saves you 10 minutes, don’t waste time chasing those 10 minutes. You’ll just end up in more meetings, and we all know how those make us feel!
The AI Hype Cycle: We’ve Hit the ‘Eye Roll’ Phase
We’ve lived through the era where every marketing team shoved “AI” into every product description like it was paprika on devilled eggs.
“Powered by AI!”
“Enhanced with AI!”
“Revolutionising your synergy pipeline with next-gen AI!”
Please. For the love of sanity, stop. AI is not going to solve humanity.
(In fact, looking at how we’re currently using it, I’m not convinced we’d let it.)
This hype has turned AI from a transformational capability into a buzzword-shaped distraction. And distractions, unlike businesses, don’t produce value. We’re hungry for practical use cases that actually deliver benefit.
A fool with a tool is still a fool; you’ve just made them faster!
Here’s the problem we keep ignoring: technology doesn’t magically compensate for poor ways of working.
We’ve upgraded our tech stack dramatically. But our “Human Operating System”, which is the culture, behaviours, and rituals that dictate how we actually work. still runs something closer to Windows 95. With strong Clippy energy.
AI will not rescue leaders who can’t delegate, teams who don’t collaborate, or cultures where curiosity gets smothered by hierarchy, fear, or endless meetings pretending to be collaboration.
If we want AI to work, our organisations need to:
- Return to play. Play fuels imagination, which fuels innovation. And innovation, not admin, is where AI shines. Ask “how might we?” the next time you’re tempted to say “that won’t work”
- Embrace evolution. Ways of working shouldn’t be laminated or carved into stone tablets. Teams must adapt continuously because the world is adapting continuously. Give them agency to hone their ways of working to their environment and specific problem they’re solving.
- Cultivate curiosity. We need leaders who say, “I don’t know” without their ego exploding. Leaders who explore, not dictate. Leaders who treat experiments as learning, not liabilities.
If your culture punishes uncertainty, congratulations: you’ve built the perfect conditions for AI to fail.
This Isn’t About Technology. It’s About Perspective.
AI isn’t the hero of the story.
But it can be the lever, and one that amplifies the creativity, judgement, and humanity already present in your organisation.
Before you invest another dollar in another AI tool, ask yourself:
- What perspective are we missing?
- What behaviours need to change?
- What decisions do we want to make differently?
- And what value, not vanity, are we chasing?
Because perception says, “Look at our shiny new AI initiative.” Perspective says, “Here’s how we’re actually
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