Your AI manifesto needs to reflect your values.
At Legible, we talk a lot about the importance of AI manifestos. Not just for the company, but for each department. We believe there is tremendous value in companies getting their best thinking around AI transformation down on paper: what the company needs to look like in 6, 12, 18 months. Expected behaviors, fluency levels, the workflows most strategic to automate, and a game plan for getting from here to there.
But there is another component of an AI manifesto that I believe deserves some discussion; how a company’s values manifest.
AI is more than new technology. It’s a significant societal shift. For many knowledge workers, it’s genuinely unsettling. And if you play it out, the productivity dividend by default flows to the company, not the person. More hours back usually translates into more work for the worker.
Think about someone in 2022 who was already stretched. You give them tools that get them two hours back a day, and then you fill those two hours with more work. More accounts. More output requirements. More deadlines. What’s in it for them?
I spoke recently with a founder who felt strongly that AI was a means to help her employees live fuller lives, and wanted this reflected in their AI manifesto. That is a different goal than enabling your account managers to carry a 5x account load, or helping one marketer do the work of six. Both goals are legitimate. The question is whether you’ve been explicit about which one you’re pursuing.
An early-stage startup that needs to move at full speed can honestly say: this is not a work-life balance company, and we are going to put every available hour into winning. That’s fair. Another company can say: we are going to share the time dividend with the team. That’s also fair.
What’s not fair is staying quiet about it. Your employees will figure out which kind of company you are. Better that they hear it from you first.
Whether it’s in your AI Manifesto or in your town hall, this is a conversation that needs to be had.