"AI is garbage" – or do you need practice?

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“I tried that AI tool. It didn’t work at all.”
“Really? I use it every day – it’s incredible how much time I save!”

Two people. Same tool. Completely different experiences. Why is that?

When we conduct needs assessments and talk to employees about their use of AI tools, this is a recurring pattern. Some have tried them, gotten frustrated, and concluded, “That’s not for me.” Others have embraced AI with open arms and talk about it as “everyday superpowers.”

And the strange thing is – they’re often using the exact same tool.

So what makes the difference.

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The Power of the Prompt

Today, AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini are powerful – but they are not mind readers. You still need to give them something: a clear instruction.

And this is where the difference emerges. Those who find AI fantastic have often also become quite good at talking to AI. They’ve learned to express their needs, to experiment, to understand what works – and what doesn’t.

They’ve practiced. Failed. Adjusted. Learned.

The others haven’t.

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Information Isn’t Enough – Practice Is What Matters

It’s easy to think it’s enough to just “inform” employees about AI. But understanding what an AI tool can do is one thing – knowing how to get it to do what you want is something entirely different.

Imagine getting a new colleague. In the beginning, you try giving them some tasks. If the results are good, you trust them with more. If things go wrong, you check what happened, adjust, and try again. Slowly but surely, trust is built – or not.

It’s exactly the same with AI.

We need to get to know it. Build a relationship. Test. Fail. Adjust. Try again.

And here’s the interesting part: when we learn to give clearer instructions, our “AI colleague” suddenly becomes much better. The difference that makes the difference often lies within us.

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Training with AI Is Like Practicing Giving Feedback – It Requires Safety and Encouragement

Learning to use AI doesn’t just require time – it also requires permission. Permission to be a beginner. Permission to fail. Permission to ask for help.

And it requires encouragement. Because if the boss says “AI is garbage,” it’s no surprise if the employee ends up feeling the same way.

Want your employees to succeed with AI? It’s not enough to suggest a good tool. You need to create conditions for practice. Give space to experiment. Let people reflect on what they did – and how they can improve.

Just like any behavior change, it’s built through practice over time – not a one-off effort.

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In Summary

AI itself is neither magic nor garbage. It’s a tool – and like any tool, it takes skill to use it well.

If we want more employees to see AI as a helpful part of their daily work, we need to create structures for practice – not just spread information. We need to give people the chance to build confidence, one prompt experiment at a time.

That’s when the superpowers begin to show.