Your Team Doesn’t Hate AI—They Don’t Trust You

Blog Response to: "Companies' Biggest Barrier to AI Isn't Tech — It's Employee Pushback" (Business Insider)

Read the original article on Business Insider →

Let’s just say it: a lot of the resistance to AI isn’t really about the tech—it’s about trust.

The Business Insider article, "Companies' Biggest Barrier to AI Isn’t Tech — It’s Employee Pushback," gets to the root of something a lot of executives are ignoring. People aren’t rejecting AI because they can’t handle it. They’re rejecting it because no one’s taken the time to explain what it actually means for their jobs, their creativity, their agency.

And if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a reorg, a layoff, or a “we’re pivoting to efficiency” meeting, that fear is more than valid.

If you’re a marketing leader trying to implement AI tools and getting blank stares or passive resistance? This is your mirror moment. You’ve got to treat AI integration like change management, not an IT upgrade.

Here’s what I’ve seen work:

• Transparency about what AI will and won’t do.

• Investment in real training, not just one-off tutorials. (Think: AI literacy programs like DeepLearning.Ai AI for Everyone )

• Co-creation of ethical guidelines. Let teams help shape the rules for how AI is used internally. A great starting point is this AI Governance Framework by the OECD.

Don’t just implement AI. Invite your team into the conversation. Make space for the grief, the fear, the excitement. Because AI is here to stay—but whether it works for your team depends entirely on how you lead.