Debates about artificial intelligence often focus on what it will change in ten years. However, according to the author of this op-ed, AI is already transforming daily work, and companies are not all advancing at the same pace, creating significant gaps.
- AI already transforms daily work, but companies advance at very different paces.
- The gap widens between firms that set a framework quickly and those that act too late.
- Each company must define its AI strategy, set clear rules, and train its employees.
- Employees must stay at the center of decisions, because judgment now makes the difference.
The usual questions concern threatened jobs, the limits of automation, or the world of work in ten years. These questions are legitimate, but they can make us forget what is happening today. From one company to another, the level of AI learning and its integration into daily tasks varies greatly. Some employees are just discovering chatbots, these conversational assistants, while others are deploying autonomous systems capable of learning from their mistakes. Still others use several AI tools with their personal accounts, sometimes unaware of the risks associated with sharing their company’s confidential data.
The danger, according to the author, lies in the gap widening between companies capable of quickly establishing a framework to integrate AI as a work tool and train their teams, and those that will not, or will do so too late.
Act now
The race for innovation is accelerating, and every day pushes the boundaries of our capabilities and knowledge. In this context, each company must define its own AI adoption strategy: identify uses that truly bring value, choose the right tools, and set clear rules for their use. IT managers and their teams have a major role to play. Companies lacking internal skills can call on external specialists, provided they then transfer this knowledge to their teams to gain autonomy.
This investment should enable the building of healthy foundations, ultimately accelerating productivity and preparing new value levers. The author summarizes the context thus: a world where “your grandfather can create a complex website using Claude in a few hours.”
Training in AI
Beyond strategy, employee training is a central issue. Ignoring AI would be, according to the author, like remaining “illiterate in the face of this technological revolution.” Companies have a responsibility towards their teams: to give them the means to stay productive, preserve their employability, and develop their skills with the right tools, while teaching them to use them in compliance with security rules.
Training also helps prevent a significant portion of confidentiality risks. Much data is now shared with external tools, sometimes without employees really knowing what happens to it or who can access it. What would happen if ill-intentioned individuals got hold of financial or strategic data? The question is raised, and raising team awareness appears to be the preferred response.
Keep employees at the center of decisions
Once employees are trained and the rules are known, new perspectives open up. A study by METR (Model Evaluation and Threat Research) indicates that the duration of tasks that AI agents can accomplish autonomously has historically doubled approximately every seven months. However, these advances only benefit companies if they know how to identify the tasks for which AI truly brings value.
Employees must therefore remain at the heart of verification and decision-making processes. As AI capabilities progress, their discernment becomes increasingly important. Companies must learn to recognize it, value it, and recruit profiles capable of exercising it. It is, according to the author, the ability to think, step back, and exercise judgment that now makes the difference.
