In a presentation at FutureWeek Forum 2026, Dr Alexandra Dobra-Kiel, Innovation & Strategy Director at Behave, makes the case that deploying AI isn’t the most challenging part when it comes to AI — the real challenge is getting humans to change how they work.
Drawing on research with C-suite leaders and employees, she unpacks three barriers standing in the way of successful AI adoption: a motivation gap, where efficiency gets read as a threat to job security; a proficiency gap, where using AI tools doesn’t equate to genuine skill; and an ethics gap, where trust and psychological safety are still catching up with the technology. Dobra-Kiel’s takeaway is that AI adoption isn’t measured by whether the technology goes live – it’s measured by whether people actually change how they work.
