What became clear as we built both guides is that AI is already deeply embedded in everyday work:
- drafting leadership blogs
- analysing huge volumes of feedback
- surfacing sentiment patterns
- streamlining workflows
- personalising content at scale
Yet the biggest challenges inside organisations remain stubbornly human:
- leaders struggling to communicate clearly
- employees drowning in noise, starving for meaning
- teams craving connection and trust
- cultures stretched thin by change fatigue
AI doesn’t fix these.
But it can give EX and IC the space to.
Because while AI can write, schedule and analyse…it can’t sense unease, spot cultural signals, build belief, create belonging, or design moments that matter.
That’s still us.
One of the strongest realisations we had in writing these guides is that EX and IC need a shared approach to AI.
Not the same tasks.
Not the same outputs.
But the same foundation:
👉 AI handles the work.
Humans design the experience.
In both guides we’ve mapped the Human + Machine partnership:
AI does the structure, scale and speed — drafting, analysing, scheduling, nudging, prioritising
Humans bring the sense-making — interpretation, emotional intelligence, ethics, culture, storytelling
This partnership is what will define the next era of our profession. Not becoming “AI experts,” but becoming better experience designers because AI frees us to do the work only we can do.
Both guides explore the rise of AI “agents” — systems that don’t just respond, but act.
For IC:
- content agents that draft and schedule
- sentiment agents that monitor engagement
- manager-support agents that nudge behaviour
For EX:
- journey orchestration agents
- culture-signal detection agents
- workflow-automation agents
The question isn’t “Is this coming?”
It’s already here.
The real question is:
How do we design these agents in a way that enhances trust, supports wellbeing, and amplifies humanity rather than eroding it?
Practical Tools to Help You Start — Now
Both guides give you the practical tools to experiment safely and intentionally:
Human-centred prompts
Designed to reinforce empathy, clarity and experience design — not generic content generation.
A simple 7-step method to build your first AI agent
Beginner-friendly, no-tech-background needed.
A 90-day reset plan
To help you build confidence, capability and ethical practice.
Human + AI guardrails
So experimentation doesn’t compromise trust or dignity.
These aren’t theoretical tools — they’re designed for you, for the realities of our work, for the messy middle where people, data, emotion and systems collide.
We've spent years championing human-centred design, experience, and culture.AI is about to test how deeply we mean that.
And here’s the truth:
👉 If we don’t lead the conversation on the human side of AI, someone else will — and the result may not be people first.
AI gives us a chance to:
- elevate our strategic impact
- redesign communication and experience from the inside out
- create more culture-shaping, trust-building, human moments
- spend more time with leaders, teams and employees
- shift from production to experience design
This isn’t just a technology moment.It’s a leadership moment for our profession.
