The gap between what AI can do and what most firms are actually getting out of it isn’t a technology problem — it’s a process problem. In this episode of The FutureProof Advisor, I explore why so many firms are stuck in what I call pilot purgatory: experimenting with AI tools, seeing some promise, but never translating that into real business impact. The parallel to early factory electrification is worth sitting with — the firms that simply plugged electric motors into the same workflows saw no productivity gains. The ones that redesigned everything around the new capability transformed their industries. We’re at that same fork right now.
The deeper issue is change management, not technology adoption. I talk about the emergence of a new kind of role — part business strategist, part technical implementer — that’s becoming essential for firms serious about making AI work. Not everyone needs to hire a developer. But every firm needs someone with the authority and the skillset to bridge the gap between how work gets done today and how it needs to get done tomorrow. Without that bridge, new tools just get layered on top of old habits and the results are predictably disappointing.
The episode also looks at where AI development itself is heading — specifically the contrast between systems that improve themselves recursively and the approach of building AI that actually understands how the world works. The direction isn’t fully settled, and that uncertainty is the point. The firms that will navigate this well aren’t the ones betting everything on a single approach. They’re the ones building a culture comfortable with ongoing experimentation, occasional failure, and the discipline to keep showing up and iterating regardless of what changes next.
