The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work

A step-by-step leadership guide to help overcome employee resistance to AI, boost innovation, and unlock AI's full business value

As leaders rush to adopt artificial intelligence (AI)—driven by its potential to revolutionize operations, boost return on investment, and drive innovation—they often encounter significant hurdles. These challenges are not simply technical but also deeply human, involving employee resistance, cognitive biases, and entrenched organizational culture, all of which undermine successful AI adoption.

Drawing on over twenty-five years of consulting experience and rigorous behavioral science research, in The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work Gleb Tsipursky shows business professionals at all levels how to harness their greatest resource while solving their biggest challenge: their anxious and resistant people. You will learn how to boost employee engagement, dismantle cultural roadblocks, and build the psychological sense of safety required for AI-powered innovation that maximizes efficiency and effectiveness. Through real-world case studies, including many from clients, readers will see how to transform AI skeptics into empowered AI champions, design upskilling programs that drive engagement and innovation, and weave ethical governance guardrails into every deployment.

The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work includes frameworks, conversation scripts, and metrics based on more than 100 consulting projects, along with over 50 interviews with leaders from Microsoft, Uber, Experian, and many other leading firms. This book delivers a practical road map to turn employee anxiety into energy, resistance into results, and promising pilots into scalable breakthroughs, cementing a durable competitive edge in the AI age.

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Reviews

"This intelligent and useful new book offers a timely, evidence-based roadmap for leaders who want to harness generative AI while staying firmly grounded in human judgment, ethics, and learning. It translates behavioral science and real-world cases into practical guidance to help organizations experiment boldly, reduce risk, and build the trust and psychological safety people need to embrace AI as a partner in their work rather than a threat."—Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School, and author of The Fearless Organization and Right Kind of Wrong

"Dr. Tsipursky's new book addresses the primary dilemma with generative AI: how to combine a voluntary, bottom-up approach with enterprise-level scaling of usage and value. GenAI technology is amazing, but it's psychology and sociology that makes it effective."—Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College; fellow, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy; and author of All In on AI, Working with AI, and Agentic AI

"A clear roadmap for making generative AI innovations catch on and spread throughout organizations—overcoming the human, structural, and leadership hurdles that trip up so many AI initiatives. This book combines rigorous research with practical frameworks to help you design AI programs that diffuse within your firm."—Jonah Berger, associate professor of marketing, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and bestselling author of Contagious and The Catalyst

"Explores how organizations can adopt AI effectively—balancing innovation with responsibility and ethics—and provides a refreshing and compelling perspective for employing safe and dependable AI with increased innovation and productivity."—Ya-Qin Zhang, Chair Professor of AI Science and founding dean of the Institute for AI Industry Research, Tsinghua University, former president, Baidu Inc.

"As a CEO in the insurance industry, I know innovation only matters if it improves efficiency without weakening accountability. When we partnered with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky to implement practical AI use cases, his disciplined, governance-first approach helped us deliver measurable process improvements while keeping rigorous human oversight firmly in place. He addresses the psychological barriers that stall adoption while proactively managing risks like hallucinations and bias, so that AI strengthens, rather than replaces, human expertise and organizational judgment. This book is a valuable guide for executives who want to modernize thoughtfully and responsibly."—Gina Hardy, CEO, North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association and North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association

"Finally, a lucid, human-centered guide to business use of generative AI that serves as a valuable playbook for integrating GenAI into everyday business projects. The book is packed with meaningful examples that guide readers to use generative AI in their daily work to improve efficiency and deliver innovative ideas to support products and services. The author's experience working with companies shines through with his insight-filled analyses of when and how to use GenAI."—Ben Shneiderman, emeritus distinguished university professor of computer science, University of Maryland; founding director, Human-Computer Interaction Lab

"An essential guide for leaders who understand that AI adoption is ultimately human adoption. Tsipursky cuts through both hype and fear to reveal what really determines whether GenAI succeeds inside organizations: trust, culture, and the meaning people make of the tools they use. This book shows—with clarity and compassion—how to build AI-enabled workplaces where human experience, creativity, and judgment scale alongside technological capability."—Kate O'Neill, founder and chief tech humanist, KO Insights, and author of What Matters Next

"Gleb Tsipursky effectively captures the critical yet overlooked human side of generative AI adoption—unveiling why psychological barriers often overshadow technological hurdles. Rich with practical strategies, insightful research, and real-world wisdom, this book is a must-read for anyone serious about not just adopting AI but mastering it to transform their organizations and careers."—Jerry Kaplan, founder of four Silicon Valley startups, bestselling author of Generative Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know

"This book makes the case that taking a safe, ethical, and human-centered approach to developing and deploying AI is not just a nice idea but essential for businesses to be successful—and offers great guidelines for how to do it."—Anthony Aguirre, executive director, Future of Life Institute, Faggin Presidential Professor for the Physics of Information, UC Santa Cruz

"A persistent lesson of past technological transformations is that nothing changes unless people's behavior changes. Apply the lessons in this thoroughly researched and clearly written book full of practical tips and compelling stories, and you'll be amazed by how much your AI transformation accelerates. Highly recommended."—Scott D. Anthony, clinical professor of strategy, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and author of Epic Disruptions

"The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work tackles the biggest barrier to AI success: people. Tsipursky shows, with data and real-world stories, how to earn trust, defuse job-loss fears, and align AI with strategic goals. Leaders who apply these principles will accelerate past today's hype cycle and seize tomorrow's exponential growth curves before their competitors even see them coming."—Daniel Burrus, New York Times–bestselling author of seven books, serial entrepreneur, and technology futurist

"A surprisingly readable and engaging book that lays out many issues and challenges facing organizations that want to take advantage of the capabilities offered by generative AI. I recommend it for those pondering whether to incorporate GenAI into their work, as well as those getting started. Lots of useful ideas and suggestions."—Gary Klein, chief scientist, ShadowBox, and bestselling author of Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions

"This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to unlock a more innovative, fulfilling, and self-actualized workforce, using AI not as a replacement but as a catalyst for human flourishing."—Scott Barry Kaufman, faculty in psychology, Barnard College, and author of Rise Above

"Technology enables generative AI, but human behavior determines its impact. This book shows why adoption succeeds or stalls—and what leaders can do to change the outcome."—Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, Indistractable, and Beyond Belief

"Tsipursky highlights what most consultants minimize: AI resistance is far more tribal than technical. His employee psychographics insights affirm why the same ChatGPT demo that gets young marketing MBAs hot and bothered terrifies compliance. Serious organizations grok that effectively scaling AI first demands the discipline of decoding the humans intended to use them."—Michael Schrage, research fellow, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of Serious Play

"Generative AI adoption is more than a tech upgrade; it's a profound human endeavor requiring empathetic leadership. This book explores the psychological hurdles—from automation anxiety to status quo bias—that derail AI initiatives. More importantly, the author provides a practical tool kit to manage risks, engage employees, and cultivate a culture where AI becomes a powerful ally."—Tom Taulli, bestselling author of AI-Assisted Programming and AI Basics

"When a machine can mimic human creativity, it triggers a profound ego threat that can lead to denial, sabotage, or burnout. Dr. Tsipursky's book provides the emotional intelligence tool kit leaders need to navigate this AI identity crisis."—Drew Pinsky, American media personality and board-certified physician, host of The Dr. Drew Podcast

"Dr. Tsipursky's book is the first I've come across that thoughtfully addresses GenAI's impact on high-trust, high-risk professions like law. Whether you're managing a firm or advising one, this book offers a clear-eyed look at how AI adoption succeeds (or fails) based on human dynamics, not just hardware. A must-read for legal professionals serious about adopting AI responsibly."—Alexander Paykin, founder of Paykin Law, chair of NYSBA's Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession

"I applaud what Tsipursky is trying to do, which resonates with humanity's collective need for better governance of AI development and use. Companies need not wait for governments to act; they can already start to make their AI systems more corrigible and less risky—as well as making their companies far less dependent on Big AI systems. Tsipursky can help show the way."—Valerie M. Hudson, distinguished professor, Bush School of Government & Public Service, Texas A&M University

"Gleb Tsipursky blends psychological insight with hard-won organizational lessons to show what truly drives AI adoption. This is required reading for anyone managing digital transformation."—Sangeet Paul Choudary, senior fellow, UC Berkeley, and bestselling author of Platform Revolution and Reshuffle

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About the Author

Gleb Tsipursky, PhD, called the "Office Whisperer" by the New York Times, is CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts. This future-of-work consultancy combines his business savvy with scholarly expertise in behavioral science to help leaders stop overpaying for AI while boosting engagement and innovation. Tsipursky's academic career includes faculty appointments at Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.