Getting Started with AI Adoption
A human-centred readiness check
MIT research found 95% of enterprise AI pilots deliver no measurable return. Not because of the tech, but because AI projects stall on the humans. Start with the five true stories below — four from the headlines, one from my own client work — then 20 statements to score your organisation.
1. The US$25 million deepfake
In 2024, a Hong Kong finance employee transferred HK$200 million after a video call with what appeared to be their CFO. It was a deepfake — the employee never suspected a thing until the follow-up call.
2. The chatbot whose invented promises a tribunal enforced
Air Canada was held liable when its chatbot fabricated a bereavement fare policy that didn't exist. The tribunal ruled: your chatbot speaks for you, and you're bound by what it says.
3. The bank that halved scam losses
One major bank's AI-driven scam detection reduced customer losses by 50%. The technology worked — but only because they invested equally in the human judgement behind it.
4. The staff file on the home laptop
An HR manager, working from home on a Sunday, pasted a spreadsheet of employee records into a free AI tool to help summarise them. No policy was broken, because there wasn't one — and nobody in the business knows it happened.
5. The algorithm that priced a crisis
A retailer's AI pricing tool pushed prices up during a public emergency. Regulators intervened. The technology worked exactly as designed — the design was the problem.
How it works
- 1. Score each statement from 1 (not true of us) to 5 (consistently true).
- 2. Be honest: this is a mirror, not a report card.
- 3. Add up your total out of 100, then read what your score means.
- 4. Better still: ask three colleagues from different teams to score it separately.
Free to share with attribution.