The AI Readiness Gap: Why Technology Isn’t the Problem—People Are the Priority
- Dee C. Marshall
- Nov 18
- 2 min read
The Real Bottleneck in AI Transformation
Everywhere you turn, companies are investing millions in AI—buying the tools, building the infrastructure, and announcing transformation roadmaps.
Yet the same story keeps repeating: adoption is slow, outcomes are unclear, and employees are overwhelmed.
The problem isn’t the technology. It’s readiness.
At AI Training Plus, we call this the AI Readiness Gap—the widening divide between organizations that train their people to use AI, and those that prepare their workforce to thrive with it.
What the Data Shows
Recent studies confirm it:
64% of employees are already using AI at work—most without formal approval or training.
Only 22% of organizations have implemented a company-wide AI strategy.
And fewer than 1 in 3 employees say they feel confident using AI responsibly.
This isn’t a capability problem. It’s a confidence problem.
Leaders have focused so much on integration—the technical side of AI—that they’ve missed the adoption side—the human side.Why People Are the Priority
Technology can’t transform your business if your people don’t trust it, understand it, or see where they fit in.
That’s why the future of AI leadership depends on three human priorities:
Psychological Safety: People must feel safe experimenting with new tools without fear of being replaced.
AI Literacy by Role: Training must align with job realities—not generic workshops that treat everyone the same.
Leadership Modeling: Change starts at the top. When leaders use AI visibly and responsibly, adoption follows.
When these elements are missing, AI becomes noise—another shiny object that never delivers on its promise.The Workforce Transformation Opportunity
The companies that will win in 2026 aren’t those who adopt AI first—they’re the ones who align people, processes, and purpose with it.
AI isn’t here to replace human intelligence. It’s here to redefine how human intelligence shows up at work.
That means building teams that know how to delegate to AI, design better workflows, and deliver results faster—without burning out.
At AI Training Plus, we help organizations close the readiness gap—creating systems where humans and digital workers thrive side by side.
About the Author
Dee C. Marshall is CEO of AI Training Plus and the #1 Thought Leader on The People Side of AI. She is the creator of Free by 3™ and Founder of AI Adoption Day, helping Fortune 1000 companies integrate people-first AI strategies.
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