A recent article from the Upwork Research institute has been doing the rounds on Linkedin.

2 of its main findings are being used as "concrete proof" of the lack of impact of AI in business.

• 77% say these tools have actually decreased their productivity and added to their workload.
• Nearly half (47%) of employees using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expects

I would like to offer a different perspective. I don't think the data is wrong, we are just interpreting it in a skeptical way.

When I moved from calculator to Excel, I was also overwhelmed and it decreased my productivity. Nowadays I can't do my work without it.

The productivity I gained wasn't only about saving time. It was expanding the possibilities of my thinking, freeing up time for other tasks, being more creative and uncovering new insights.

And btw, the overwhelming part compounds IF we continue not to investing in training people and showing them how to concretely use AI tools.

So what can we do as business leaders?

We need to be thinking and talking about the "Future after the Future".

Fast forward to a time when we are past the overwhelm, where these tools are part of our day-to-day. Just like Excel.

What will change? What will stay the same? Which parts of our jobs are going to disappear, which parts are going to be redefined?

To help with that, I'm going to start a series of posts titled " The Future After the Future", where I will be feature friends from all careers and walks of life.

But what happens if this "future after the future" doesn't happen, you might ask?

I think the cost of not thinking about it is too high.

If you think about it, and it happens, you're ahead already.

If you don't think about it, and it happens, you're left behind.

Choose the Blue pill or the Red pill.

Morpheus out.

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