About this episode

Shel and Neville discuss how communicators can help employees understand the recent shifts in AI usage and maintain confidence in leadership.

First, they were told to use AI. Experiment! Add it to your workflows! Go wild! Then the bills started piling up, and companies realized the cost was not tenable. Now the walk-backs are happening. Usage caps! Caution! Slow down! Among the issues communicators need to address is employees questioning leadership’s judgment. In this short midweek episode, Shel and Neville explore approaches communicators can take to help employees understand the pivot while maintaining the perception of leader competence. Links from this episode: AI can cost more than human workers now Microsoft reports are exposing AI’s real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees When AI Costs More Than the Worker It Replaced AI isn’t paying off in the way companies think. Layoffs driven by automation are failing to generate returns, study finds AI layoffs may be backfiring on companies Uber, Microsoft, and Others Burning Through AI Budgets. Now What? Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it’s worth it Uber Burns Its 2026 AI Budget In Four Months On Claude Code Sam Altman says OpenAI’s top…

People in this episode

Hosts: Shel, Neville

Topics covered

• AI communication
• employee engagement
• leadership perception
• cost of AI
• organizational change

Keywords

• AI whiplash
• employee communication
• leadership judgment
• AI costs
• organizational change

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Microsoft, Uber, OpenAI

Products: AI

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