Sam Altman just admitted something most tech leaders still won't say out loud: AI adoption is moving slower than he — and a lot of us — predicted. The economy and large organizations carry more inertia than the tech world gave them credit for. People keep buying from the same companies. They keep using their tools the same way they always have. The breakthrough is here. The old patterns aren't loosening their grip.

Full interview: https://lnkd.in/ert6wMiq
The clip most relevant to this post: https://lnkd.in/e5_6QWeR

I see this every week with Workfast Consulting prospects and clients. Technologists walk in shocked: "The new tech is here — why isn't everyone changing?" They assume availability equals adoption. It doesn't. Habits, processes, culture, and risk tolerance create real drag. My honest estimate: it will take five to ten years for most organizations to fully absorb the capability that already exists today.

Even Altman admits it. He builds and ships this technology, and he still uses his computer largely the way he has for twenty years. He has Codex. He knows he should stop clicking around, pasting between apps, and managing to-do lists the old way. He says he doesn't want to work like that — and by his own account, he still does. His words: "It makes no sense other than I must secretly like it or feel good about it."

If the person building the future is still wrestling with his own habits, imagine what that looks like inside a complex organization full of smart people who aren't thinking about AI every day the way he is.

That gap — between what's possible and what actually gets adopted — is the part I find most interesting about this work. It's rarely a technology problem. It's a people and process problem wearing a technology costume.

The organizations that treat adoption as a human and cultural challenge, not just a tech rollout, tend to be the ones that actually get somewhere with it.

Curious how others are thinking about this.

Why do you think AI adoption is lagging what tech leaders predicted? Do you buy the inertia argument? And be honest — have you caught yourself sticking to an old habit even when you knew a clearly better way existed?

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