Even as AI becomes more familiar to the average person, workplace anxiety around it remains high. When business leaders integrate technology without clear, intentional communication, they risk alienating their workforce in ways that can be difficult to reverse.
Despite the majority of employers who’ve cut jobs for AI backtracking on their decision over the last year, more than half (53%) of Americans across demographic groups continue to worry that AI will put someone in their household out of work. The backlash against AI extends much further across the nation, showing up everywhere from midterm elections battles to potentially even within highly anticipated IPO filings.
Inside corporations, many are still making a fundamental error when it comes to building trust with workers for AI adoption, according to Jackie Swanson, managing partner at Gartner. “Every organization has an AI adoption roadmap. Almost none of them have an honest plan for what AI is doing to their people, their pace and their pipeline of future leaders,” she wrote in her blog Shelf Life. “The companies that recognize it now will build a cultural advantage that compounds long after the tools commoditize.”
The ideal AI communication strategy depends on the company, but trust remains the cornerstone, whether for an AI-native startup or a legacy enterprise facing yet another cultural shift.
For its part, contract software company Ironclad, first founded in 2014, frames AI not as a cost-cutting efficiency, but a business acceleration. “In efficiency plays, the best you can do is get down to zero, while acceleration plays can be infinite,” said Sunita Verma, Ironclad’s chief technology officer (formerly of Character.AI and Google).
“The messaging for us was very clear that it’s more about upgrading your skill set, upskilling the team,” added Verma. “We asked people to take courses. I taught classes. [We] encouraged a lot of peer learning.” Perhaps most importantly, she added, was building trust by being transparent about both the promises and pitfalls of AI tools. When coming from a deeply knowledgeable technologist, this type of candid, experience-based communication holds value.
In 2025, Grammarly changed its name to Superhuman after the company acquired an AI email app of the same name. While the flagship product was born in 2009, its cohesive rebrand — which also stemmed from the acquisition of AI productivity tool Coda, now Superhuman Docs — has transformed the company into an inarguably AI-forward endeavor. Even so, the company’s behind-the-scenes workflow changes require a more personalized communication strategy.
“We don’t start with a top-down AI mandate,” said Kenny Mendes, chief people officer at Superhuman who joined the company as part of its Coda acquisition. “A lot of the success is coming from within teams, people who are really close to the problem areas, being empowered to go pick up a new tool.” By giving people the green light to access and experiment on new ways of working, he said, they can identify and resolve their own workflow pain points.
“Because the onus is really on the individual teams, they’re getting to drive the roadmap rather than it feeling like we’re doing this for cost savings,” added Mendes. Just by switching the power dynamic, companies can avoid alarming individual contributors, instead emboldening them to do better, perhaps more enjoyable work.
California-based flavored syrup manufacturer Torani has maintained a track record of zero layoffs over its 103 years. Melanie Dulbecco, Torani’s CEO since 1991, said this precedent creates inherent trust in the company’s workforce of more than 500 people, even as they integrate new technology in the corporate office and on the manufacturing floor.
Still, the team at Torani takes a “measured, thoughtful approach” to any workflow changes, Dulbecco said. She added that incrementally testing pilot projects and giving individuals the chance to be involved in iteration can build confidence all around.
While efficiency and acceleration are admittedly business goals at Torani, neither of those words are part of their lexicon when communicating tech-driven changes. Dulbecco said, “Acceleration doesn’t sound that great to an individual person, but how do I make work better, more interesting, less manual?”
Torani plans to expand its workforce by roughly 30% by March 2027, a move that’s driven by a $60 million manufacturing expansion. To accomplish this transition, Dulbecco heavily relies on business-minded tech leaders who ground every decision in company culture. Part of that culture is actually a commitment that they “will not eliminate work through technology,” said Dulbecco.
With 53% of workers concerned that AI tools will make their role feel less necessary, according to a 2026 report from Software Finder, communicating workflow changes becomes just as strategic as the tech integration itself. Even deeper still is a foundational belief in the leaders doing the communicating. Dulbecco said, “People [need to] trust that what they’re hearing has a context that they believe.”
