Hello, AI enthusiasts from around the world.

Welcome to this week's newsletter for the AI and the Future of Work podcast.

If everyone is talking about AI, then why isn’t everyone using it? Expectations around AI adoption are high. Conversations are everywhere. If you’re an executive and you’re not thinking about AI, the risk is real.

But are all of these conversations equally valuable?

Not quite.

Alongside the excitement, there’s also noise. And that noise can feel overwhelming or even misleading. It’s easy to assume adoption happens overnight. In reality, it doesn’t.

This week’s conversation brings us back to something simple. It’s not only about the technology. It’s about something deeper. It’s about us.

Let's dive into this week's highlights! 🚀

🎙️New Episode With Tom Scott, Wrike CEO

Enterprise software has been the backbone of companies for decades. It wasn’t perfect, but that imperfection made it essential for how businesses operate. Then AI entered the picture.

Databases with polished interfaces are starting to feel outdated. But has AI truly reshaped enterprise software, or are expectations running ahead of reality?

Tom Scott sees both sides.

The pace of change has accelerated. Few expected things to move this quickly. New developments appear every day. At the same time, there’s a lot of noise.

AI is part of every conversation. No executive board sits outside of it. And if one does, that’s a clear warning sign. Still, Tom Scott brings the conversation back to a more grounded perspective.

Tom is the CEO of Wrike, the work management platform trusted by over 20,000 customers, including Walmart Canada and Sony Pictures Television, across more than 140 countries and nearly 2 million end users.

He also brings decades of experience across multiple tech cycles. He started by building cell towers, later led autonomous robotics companies like Fetch Robotics, then joined Wrike as CFO before becoming CEO in July 2023.

He sat down with PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin to explore a key gap in today’s AI conversation.

As organizations try to absorb constant change, pressure to keep up continues to rise. But change doesn’t happen overnight. It never has. Because this shift isn’t only about technology. It’s about people.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Why transformation remains hard in the AI era, and why leaders often underestimate what blocks real change.

• Why the biggest career risk today is not AI itself, but the decision to stop moving up the value stack of your current role.

• Pace and noise coexist right now. Leaders need to tell the difference if they want to drive real transformation.

• How Tom coaches his leadership team to hire for intensity and ownership over domain expertise, and why this matters more than ever.

• Why a defined career plan is no longer a viable strategy, and what curiosity and experience-chasing look like as professional principles.

• What Tom believes will be table stakes in the workplace well before 2031, and why the building blocks are already visible today.

🎧 This week's episode of AI and the Future of Work, featuring Tom Scott, Wrike CEO, is now available.

Listen to the full episode to learn more about why Tom believes that AI adoption needs human input, and will continue to need it for years to come. After all, the real value of using AI comes from answering the question, “what are we actually trying to do here?” And only humans can answer that.

📖 AI Fun Fact Article

Is SaaS dead in 2026?

It’s a question many are asking. It also shows how far AI has come in reshaping how we work. Answering it takes some courage, and that’s what Bo Lykkegaard from IDC does in this article.

There’s no denying that large SaaS companies dominate enterprise computing. At the same time, these tools often feel like a patchwork of interfaces and data silos. Users adapt to the software, not the other way around.

If you’ve used any SaaS product, this feels familiar. Each new tool comes with a steep learning curve. Interfaces feel overwhelming. Then the cycle repeats when you switch roles or companies.

That’s where AI starts to shift the experience.

“Approve last week’s expense reports” or “Generate next quarter’s sales forecast” could become the only commands you need. No dashboards. No jumping between interfaces. In the near future, users may interact with agents through simple conversations.

Those interactions can elevate core processes like HR, finance, and CRM.

So it makes sense to ask if this agentic experience will replace much of how we use SaaS today.

Even pricing models may change. Traditional licensing could fade. Up to 70% of software vendors may need to rethink pricing around new metrics like consumption, outcomes, or organizational capability.

PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin recognizes that enterprise software interfaces are changing to accommodate language-driven navigation. At the same time, the now-clichéd idea about the death of SaaS is both inaccurate and irresponsible.

Software from vendors like Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce, and ServiceNow is sticky. It is complex and expensive to replace. Customers expect these vendors to modernize their interfaces with AI-first features and adopt value-based, rather than seat-based, pricing. But SaaS as a delivery model for AI-driven workflows is not going anywhere.

Terminology matters. Intellectual integrity matters. IDC and other organizations should spend more time sharing data and case studies that reflect how the world of work is actually changing.

Users are apprehensive about how to integrate AI into their work processes. They are looking for leadership from management teams, as well as vendors, to make work life better because of AI, not in spite of AI.

Listener Spotlight

Worth A Read

Recommended Listening

For decades, the industrial era taught us that work was about maximizing output. AI is now forcing a more important question: what makes us uniquely human?

To mark our April special compilation, we released a new episode of AI and the Future of Work bringing back six former guests who have published influential books on redefining the human at work.

Instead of focusing on competing with algorithms, this episode explores a more important question:

How can technology help us expand our capacity for trust, vulnerability, and meaning in the way we work?

Across different perspectives, each author examines a key part of this shift, from rethinking leadership and employment models to embracing the human skills that will matter most in an AI-driven world.

Until next time, stay curious! 🤔

That's a Wrap for This Week!

AI is evolving at a blistering pace. That doesn’t mean it will be implemented immediately in every workplace. You could even argue it doesn’t need to happen right away.

What matters first is understanding why. And that’s where humans come in, and will continue to matter for a long time.

If you’re a leader, ask the uncomfortable questions. Stay close to what’s happening in AI, even when it feels challenging. Keep reinventing your skills to stay relevant.

At the same time, don’t assume change needs to happen for its own sake.

Focus on what truly improves your company and your people

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