Do you remember Juicero? It was a $400 Wi-Fi-connected juicer that only worked with proprietary fruit packets, each costing as much as a juice from the store. After a much-hyped launch, the company tanked magnificently when it was discovered that the packets could simply be squeezed by hand, making the machine virtually useless.

Juicero was a classic case of a product built to solve a problem that didn’t exist. It was a shiny, expensive gadget that offered no real value. Swap “gadget” for “platform” and you have an apt description of what happens all too often with AI today. Fortunately, most companies have the internal resources to sidestep that pitfall, using what I call the “three Ds”: discuss, deputize, and dismiss.

Too often, AI decisions are made behind closed doors among the higher-ups. By the time employees are brought in, the question isn’t whether AI makes sense for the organization, but which targets they need to hit with it: “Every employee must add XYZ agents to their workflow by Q3,” for example.

The result is graveyards of unmaintained agents, teams burning budget on lackluster AI applications to satisfy their bosses (tokenmaxxing, anyone?), and employees who feel AI is being done to them rather than for them. To borrow from Juicero: Ask employees whether they need the expensive appliance, or whether they can just as easily squeeze the juice by hand.

Employees will become the first line of defense against costly AI deployments when the directive to use AI comes from leadership.

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