Brew Markets Prof. Karim Lakhani: Revisiting the Corporate Challenge of Adopting AI
12 snips
Dec 26, 2025 
Prof. Karim Lakhani, a Harvard Business School professor, shares insights on AI adoption and productivity. He advocates for 'clinical trials' in corporations to assess AI's impact before hefty investments. Lakhani highlights P&G's findings on enhanced worker emotions and productivity with AI. He emphasizes that successful AI integration requires a shift in company workflows, where leadership plays a crucial role. Discussing the balance between technology and management, he warns of the urgency for firms to adapt or risk obsolescence.
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AI's Jagged Performance Frontier
- AI shows a jagged performance frontier: it can dramatically help creative tasks but harm numeric tasks prone to hallucination.
- In the BCG study, creativity scores rose ~40% while spreadsheet tasks fell ~20% two years ago.
Design Workflows To Realize ROI
- Expect a J-curve when adopting AI and redesign workflows to capture ROI.
- Change processes and volume expectations instead of hoping ROI appears without operational redesign.
Prioritize Change Management
- Spend 70% of AI effort on change management, not just technology.
- Leaders must personally use AI to gain credibility and guide effective deployments.
