It can’t have been longer than a year ago that a co-worker asked me, “do you think anybody here uses AI?” They were, specifically, talking about generative chatbots.

The answer was, “most likely”. ChatGPT had been around since 2023, and tech giants were increasingly pushing similar technology. I had talked to plenty of people who were using it in their jobs, including teachers, programmers, analysts, realtors and insurance brokers. I figured in any given office, there were surely a few people experimenting.

Getting human workers used to interacting with AI, and even with completely virtual co-workers, could be a roadblock for generative AI.Credit: Pexels

Now generative AI is practically as common as spreadsheet software. It’s a major part of just about every enterprise suite.

Workers with Office 365 or Google Workspace are encouraged to use Copilot or Gemini, respectively, in their daily tasks. Adobe and Canva have AI deeply integrated into their latest updates. And management software-as-a-service such as that offered by Atlassian increasingly packages AI as a way to leverage all workplace data into productivity savings.

Beyond developing guidelines to make sure that employees who dabble in generative AI do so safely, workplaces are activating the tools for every single worker, and if you go to an office every day for your job I’d all but guarantee you have some mandatory training or workshops coming up in your calendar on the subject, if you haven’t had them already.

A new Australian survey from Humanova found that mid-sized businesses with 50 to 99........

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