Ethan Mollick’s ClioCon keynote gave five reasons employees keep AI to themselves. Here’s what a small firm can do about each one.
If you asked your staff whether they use AI at work, you might get a shrug. That doesn’t mean they aren’t using it.
That was one of the points in Ethan Mollick’s keynote at ClioCon last week. Mollick teaches at Wharton, wrote Co-Intelligence, and studies how people use AI at work. His view is that AI use inside organizations is widespread but hidden, because people have good reasons not to mention it.
Five reasons people keep quiet
Here’s my summary of what he described:
The rules are fuzzy. Many workplaces have AI policies that threaten discipline for using AI “wrong.” Nobody knows what wrong means, so the safest choice is to say nothing.
They want the credit. If the work looks brilliant, some people would rather you think they’re brilliant.
Being faster can look like being replaceable. He said that in big firms, higher productivity often leads to layoffs. Why show your boss that a job takes half the time it used to?
They’re using the time they save. Some people finish faster and then work less. If they tell you, they’ll probably get handed more work.
They don’t know who to tell. Even someone who found something useful may not know who would care.
Why this matters to you
Mollick’s bigger point is that nobody outside your firm can tell you the best ways to use AI in your practice. The people most likely to figure it out are the ones already doing the work. If they’re hiding what they’ve found, you lose the discoveries that would help everyone else.
A small firm has an advantage here. You don’t need a committee or a corporate AI policy. You can fix most of this in a staff meeting.
What I’d do
Ask directly, and make it safe to answer. Say you want to know how people use AI, and that nobody’s in trouble for it. Then make sure that stays true.
Replace fuzzy rules with clear ones. One page is enough: which tools are approved, what client information can go into them, and who to ask when unsure.
Decide ahead of time what happens to the time saved. If faster work only means more work, people will stop telling you. You might let them keep some of it, or point it toward work they’d rather do.
Give credit for sharing. When someone shows the team a faster way to do something, treat that as valuable work in itself.
Make it a regular conversation. A few minutes at a weekly meeting: “What did you try with AI this week?” That also answers the question of who to tell.
Bottom line
Mollick said many times that nobody has this figured out, including the companies building these tools. That makes the people in your own office your best source of ideas. You just have to make it worth their while to share them.
;-)
Ernie
P.S. In the Inner Circle, lawyers swap what’s working with AI in their own firms, so nobody has to figure it out alone.
→
https://ernietheattorney.net/