Research notes.
What we're reading in the AI-integration field, what we make of it, and how it changes how we run engagements. Selected, not periodic.
Each note cites the primary source. The full bibliography is at Sources.
Reaction · October 13, 2026
The AI backlash is mostly a rollout backlash
Glassdoor's analysis of US employer reviews finds AI mentions up 240% in a year and now mostly negative. Job loss is one complaint in five. The rest is about how AI was put in front of people, which is the part an employer controls.
Read the noteReaction · October 5, 2026
The most popular AI use cases are rarely the ones that pay back
A Gartner survey of 1,303 leaders found only 22% have scaled AI, and the use cases leaders pursue most are rarely the ones reporting the best returns. We read it as an argument for choosing from the workflow.
Read the noteReaction · May 19, 2026
Anthropic's 4D AI Fluency model: what it gets right, and where it stops
The 4D model captures the cognitive shift behind effective AI use better than most. The piece it doesn't address is what happens when a fluent individual sits inside an organization that hasn't done the adoption work.
Read the noteSynthesis · May 19, 2026
What Brynjolfsson 2025 means for who you train first
The evidence on who gains from AI assistance is clearer than the usual pilot advice admits, and it argues for training in the opposite order from most rollouts.
Read the notePosition · May 19, 2026
Why we don't pilot with the most senior team
The conventional advice is to start AI pilots with the most senior cohort to build executive buy-in. The best evidence we have suggests that cohort gains the least from AI assistance. We do the opposite.
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