The (very) fixable reason AI adoption is failing

Our team has a lot of vantage points into how work is actually changing with AI, and how teams are coping (or not) with those changes.

Across many contexts, there’s a shared feeling showing up again and again: A lot of people feel a little untethered about work right now.

AI has been moving at a new speed in 2026.

New tools. New features. New capabilities.

So it’s no surprise that teams keep asking questions like:

“Which AI tool should we be using?”,
“Where do we start with AI?”, or
“Where do we go next?”

But underneath all of those questions is a deeper one:

“What are we supposed to be good at now?”

Roles are evolving with AI at the center

Across companies experimenting seriously with AI, we’re seeing a clear pattern emerging, and it’s not about job replacement.

It’s about role evolution.

The teams making real progress aren’t trying to turn everyone into a technical person.

Instead, they’re getting explicit about how different kinds of work change when AI enters the picture.

Yes, everyone needs to learn how to work with AI agents. But what that actually looks like is:

• Individual contributors are learning to use AI agents as end users.

• Subject-matter experts are learning to manage AI agents - making updates, improving outputs, and training others.

• AI Operators are learning to design AI agents and systems of agents.

• AI Visionaries are deciding which AI agents to “hire” and where they belong.

AI Operations is a team sport

One thing has become very clear to us for a while now: The hardest part of AI adoption isn’t the technology. It’s coordinating and aligning people.

AI Operations is like a team sport.

And like any team sport, progress breaks down when everyone’s chasing the ball and no one knows their position. But when positions are clear, something different happens.

People stop guessing.
They can see what they’re responsible for.
They know how AI fits into their work and how their work fits into the larger system. 

This unlocks coordination.

And coordination is what turns AI from an interesting experiment (or a collection of half-used, misused, or abandoned projects) into something that actually works and makes a difference.

AI OPERATOR BOOTCAMP ENROLLMENT IS OPEN

Join and learn how to help teams unlock AI momentum.

Inside the AI Operator Bootcamp, we teach operators the CRAFT Cycle: a 5-step, repeatable process for keeping teams aligned as they scope, build, and roll out AI playbooks.

If you work on a team, or want to help other teams build durable, scalable AI operations, this is the program to be in.

Learn more about enrolling in our upcoming cohort here.

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• OpenAI Frontier joins the race to define how “AI co-workers” show up at work.

• Anthropic has been having a moment, and Opus 4.6 marks the company’s first major model release of the year. 

• Influencer marketing is becoming the next battleground for AI, with deals surpassing half a million dollars. 

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at [email protected].

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team