HUMAN + AI SIGNALS
KIMBERLY MCCONECHY + KELLY TARRY
Phase One | 60 conversations

60 conversations later.

We started by asking leaders how AI was changing work. More than 40 conversations since our first share, some signals have strengthened, some have become more complicated, and the questions are getting more interesting.

Independent, cross-industry practitioner research | 60 completed research interviews | Findings are directional
What stayed with us

Three signals are getting harder to ignore.

Across industries and different stages of adoption, the conversations keep bringing us back to people: capability, leadership clarity and the boundaries leaders are drawing around human judgment.

01
The Capability Paradox
Producing an answer is getting easier. Knowing whether it is good still requires judgment, context and domain knowledge.“I think knowing what to put into the engine is just as important as knowing if what came out makes sense.”
02
The Leadership Translation Gap
Tools, policies and training can move faster than practical direction about what good AI use actually looks like at work.Access ≠ adoption ≠ transformation.
03
The Human Boundary
As AI capability expands, leaders continue to return to context, relationships, accountability and consequence.“You can't give accountability to AI.”
4.9
LEADERSHIP CLARITY / 10
A number we keep coming back to

Controls can advance without clarity.

Leadership Clarity remains the lowest external dimension in our Human + AI Index. Responsible Adoption is higher at 7.8. The pattern is not universal, but it raises a useful question: are tools, training and guardrails moving faster than practical leadership direction?

RESPONSIBLE ADOPTION 7.8 / 10    |    LEADERSHIP CLARITY 4.9 / 10
Voices from the research

The quotes are often what stay with us.

“You can't relieve oversight.”Anonymous research participant
“AI won't be able to look around a room and see fear in people's eyes.”Anonymous research participant
“I don't think you can outsource the part that needs to care about people and care about doing the right thing.”Anonymous research participant
“It allowed me to spend more thoughtful time analyzing the aggregate than spending the time aggregating.”Anonymous research participant
One click

Which signal feels most familiar where you work?

Thank you. That helps us understand what is resonating beyond the interviews.
What we're wondering now
Are organizations changing the work, or simply doing the same work faster?

AI can create capacity. What organizations choose to do with that capacity, and whether roles, workflows and expectations change with it, is becoming a much more interesting question.

Keep the conversation going

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Research note: K2 Human + AI Signals is independent practitioner research. The Phase One sample is directional and weighted toward HR and People leaders. Index values shown here use external participant responses. Findings surface patterns, tensions and counterexamples and are not presented as statistically representative.