Ep 134: Unpacking the Psychology Behind AI Success with Dr. Gleb

Bob is joined by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, better known as Dr. Gleb, CEO and founder of Disaster Avoidance Experts and author of the new book “The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results”. Drawing on over a hundred consulting projects and thousands of survey responses, Dr. Gleb explains why roughly 95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI, arguing the real obstacle is not the technology but three psychological profiles driving resistance: fear of job loss, threats to professional identity, and shame around quietly using AI in the shadows. They discuss how forced AI mandates can backfire into deliberately sloppy output, why untrained junior employees produce polished but poorly reasoned work, and the widening gap between how executives and everyday employees experience AI adoption. Dr. Gleb closes with practical fixes, from training people on tasks they hate first to having leaders model and reward AI usage openly.

Keywords

AI adoption, cognitive biases, decision science, psychology of AI adoption at work, change management, AI alarmists, pragmatic resistors, reluctant adopters, shadow AI use, AI slop, malicious compliance, psychographic profiles, identity threat, Office Whisperer, Disaster Avoidance Experts, MIT pilot study, Pew Research, leadership communication, AI training

Takeaways

95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI because leaders treat a psychological challenge as a technical one
Three psychographic profiles drive resistance: AI alarmists who fear job loss, pragmatic resistors who feel identity threat, and reluctant adopters who hide shameful shadow AI use
Forced AI mandates can trigger malicious compliance, where resistant employees deliberately produce sloppy output to prove the tool does not work
Untrained junior employees produce polished looking but poorly reasoned AI output, widening a generational skills gap
Executives and rank and file employees experience AI adoption very differently, a split reality that hides the fear driving resistance
Leaders reduce resistance by modeling their own AI usage publicly and rewarding employees who share new use cases

Quotes

It's not the technology that's a challenge. It's psychology.
The technology is great. But the social stigma is high.
You go slow to go fast.
The leaders need to model AI usage. They need to talk about it.
The crucial thing is leaders know that most people aren't engaged in their work.

Chapters

00:03 Welcome and introductions

00:54 Dr. Gleb's background and the new book

07:00 Why 95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI

08:58 The real barrier is psychology, and the three resistance profiles

12:57 A real world story of shadow AI use and hidden shame

18:30 AI slop, malicious compliance, and untrained junior employees

27:37 The split reality between executives and employees

31:48 Reaching the AI alarmists and pragmatic resistors

38:47 Reaching the reluctant adopters through modeling and reward

52:01 Workshops, the DIY approach, and closing thoughts

Dr. Gleb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gleb-tsipursky