Results from Be Courageous’ survey on AI: What people use AI for, fears, desires, and if people consider it an advantage or “cheating.”
Be Courageous and AI
Our exposure to AI started back in 2018, as a result of our partnership with Singularity University (a few of our team members are faculty at this important organization).
We were sharing the stage with some of the most progressive scientists and technologists working with AI for decades. Back then, even for a transformation agency such as ourselves, so much of what we heard on those stages frankly sounded like science fiction!
We could imagine a world where AI existed, but it was hard to imagine how prolific its global impact would be. No one at the time had fully figured out what practical applications of AI could scale and make sense for the modern, everyday person.
Fast-forward to 2022 and 2023 when we experimented with early versions of ChatGPT. Even then, it seemed like a novelty. People were asking it questions like, “Write a love poem in the style of Shakespeare,” or “What is the meaning of life?” Most of our sentiments after using it were, “This is cool, imagine if…”
Then as every expert in exponential technologies predicted, this invention we didn’t feel had enough value in 2018 to consider integrating into our daily lives suddenly had a massive tipping point. It seemed like the whole world had a “holy s*!_” moment when everyone could see, from school teachers to IT executives how AI would radically transform the future. And it’s been that way every day since.
In February 2023, technology expert Dr. Michael Gillam advised us to make AI a permanent team member. So we did just that.
We named our internal ChatGPT app “Fin,” short for “infinity.” Infinite possibilities.
How we use AI
With technology this prolific, we knew we needed to be mindful of how we wanted to use it. Just because humans can invent something that can do XYZ, we always ask, “What is this invention in service of? Is it for the greater good?” “What is its job to be done?” “Who is it helping?” We also knew we needed to be transparent in our usage.
We developed an internal mission statement to guide us.
We use Fin to accelerate and assist with our work. We do not use Fin to replace human ideation, writing, or thoughtful creative analysis. We prioritize quality over quantity and use AI responsibly for a positive impact.
Once Fin was onboard, we mandated our team continually experiment with it as a co-creator, thought partner, catalyst, efficiency tool, alternative perspective, and optimizer. Whether we used it to help write executive summaries or research for an article, we credited its use.
Some of us had mixed feelings about its integration, especially our invaluable head of content and voice for our company. She could see its positive sides, but as a writer was concerned about possible negative implications to her role if this tool grew to what people speculated. Courage propelled her forward and she and Fin work seamlessly together today.
Whatever fears we had, we knew we could meet those fears with courage, and another Be Courageous superpower, our creativity. Just as we help our clients do, every day.
Our experience with AI…so far
In the years since we partnered with AI (Fin), our experience has been mixed.
Fin has been helpful with research (albeit with fact-checking needed).
We were delighted at Fin being a whiz at transcribing and summarizing meetings, rolling up tasks and next steps, and how it’s saved us time with direct answers to complex questions and calculations.
Fin helps us synthesize thousands of pages of programmatic documentation into digestible themes and recommendations.
On the other hand, we groaned at having to upload our data docs repeatedly after frequent stalls and at the bland essay format it delivers from writing prompts. Shockingly, it can produce so many words that say nothing at all!
For example, once we asked Fin to take a shot at writing a market-worthy bio for our CEO. It came back with a page that said nothing at all but used excessive positive adjectives to make him sound more important than a Nobel-peace-prize-winning doctor who cured cancer! Not going to lie, we did consider using it! The reason we didn’t of course was that could mean the death of a great reputation overnight.
We’ve always understood (and will continue to understand) that AI needs to be used with caution and care.
As with any team member, Fin is growing along with us. We are learning about it, and it is learning about us, daily….umm, scary a bit?
The Be Courageous AI Survey
As AI gets embedded into companies, conversations, and challenges have been presented to us in companies we’ve worked with around the world—from mining and tech giants to fast-growing fashion startups and legacy cosmetic brands.
In addition, our network of consultants, academics, young career professionals, and seasoned executives and coaches have had their stances.
We set out to gauge the current state of emotions and the usage of AI for others.
We emailed this survey to our email list and promoted it on our LinkedIn.
Here’s an overview of what we found. The full report can be accessed here.
AI Survey: Key takeaways
The emotional landscape: People feel both hope and hesitation. The promise of time-saving innovation is met with fears of job loss, depersonalization, and ethical ambiguity.
Common AI applications: Content creation leads the way, with respondents using AI for writing, idea generation, research, and meeting summaries. Yet, even as tasks become automated, our unique human insights and voices remain irreplaceable.
Psychological safety at work: Most people feel moderately safe using AI, but uncertainty lingers. The courage here is to normalize transparency—crediting AI when used and creating safe spaces for experimentation without fear of judgment.
Organizational leadership: People crave clear guidelines, education, and resource allocation. Leadership’s role is to provide clarity and support while fostering ethical considerations.
Desired improvements: Respondents called for AI to be better at organizing information, automating mundane tasks, smoother usage (less stalling), and supporting research.
Navigating ethical terrain: Our data showed that crediting AI remains ambiguous. When and how should we give credit? The answer is simple: always. Transparency builds trust—in ourselves, our teams, and our work. The ethical courage to acknowledge the role AI plays is vital to maintaining integrity.
AI is embedded in more facets of life than people may even realize. Yet, with this truth comes an opportunity to design a future where humanity remains central to every technological leap. Courage this complexity with clarity, take risks while staying anchored in your values, and lead with the belief that technology should enhance, not erase, what makes us human.
The greatest innovation isn’t in what AI can do but in how we choose to partner with it to create meaning, connection, and impact. It’s up to us to shape this story not with fear, but with courage. Courage your AI.
Co-written/edited: Shannon Geher
Research/images: FIN
