AI strategist Alison McCauley on how businesses can stay ahead in a rapidly changing digital economy

Alison McCauley, a globally recognised strategist, author, and one of the most influential artificial intelligence speakers on the circuit today, believes organisations must act fast to adapt. Founder of Unblocked Future and author of Unblocked, McCauley advises companies on digital trust, AI adoption, and building resilience in times of disruption.

In this exclusive Q&A with Champions Speakers Agency, she shares how generative AI is transforming business strategy, why human–machine collaboration matters more than ever, and what decision-makers can do today to prepare for the challenges—and opportunities—of tomorrow.

Q: Since entering the AI sector in 2010, how have you seen its evolution reshape business models and competitive advantage—particularly in the wake of generative AI?

Alison McCauley: “So, I started working in AI in 2010 and it was completely different back then. You know, AI development has been around a long time—the 1960s was even a really vibrant time of AI development. But what happened about a year and a half ago, just a little over a year and a half ago, completely changed everything. OpenAI launched ChatGPT, and all of a sudden everybody has really, really sophisticated AI at their fingertips.

“The work they did is in a space called generative AI, and the acceleration of generative AI since then has been absolutely staggering—it’s surprised everybody, even people deep in the field. And so there are a couple of things to know about that.

“First of all, this new kind of AI and what’s available to us now unlocks an entirely new class of business cases. These are business cases that now allow us to use the power of these tools on open-ended tasks and to interface and interact with them in our natural language—and to do so in a variety of modes.

“That is a massive opportunity, but it also brings with it new challenges—challenges that we’re just starting to learn how to navigate. You know, our structures and the way that we’re used to working—our business processes, our organisations, our mindsets—they’re all set up for traditional software.

“And this new kind of software, generative AI, works very differently. It just works vastly differently to traditional software. And so we need to develop new ways of working with it. We need to develop new ways of interacting with it. We have to set new expectations for what is possible with this software—and that’s really hard.

“So that’s part of the challenge that’s ahead. I’d say in summary: massive opportunity, uncharted waters. And that’s why I emphasise there’s a lot of urgency right now to learn. Because those that learn how to harness the power of these tools—which are truly powerful—will be able to use this to drive competitive advantage. And so I emphasise that this is truly a learning time.”

Q: You often reference the importance of 'being human at the AI crossroads.' What practical steps can organisations take to ensure humanity remains central as AI adoption accelerates?

Alison McCauley: “So, there’s a lot of talk about how this is about machines or robots taking over or doing the work. What’s not talked about enough—and what’s really important—is that the real opportunity in this new kind of AI is to combine the unique power of our human brain with what is now possible: this machine intelligence, this machine brain. It’s when you combine human intelligence and machine intelligence that a new possible is unlocked.

“And so, we have the opportunity with this technology to supercharge our ability as humans—as people. We have the ability to supercharge the way we operate as teams and as an organisation. What stands in the way of that is that we don’t know how to interact with AI. We need to work on our human–AI communication to be able to extract value from this.

“And the good news is that there’s a practical way you can approach that. There are things you can do to start to get your arms around this technology and to extract value from it. In my talks, I really emphasise not only contextualising what is happening—why now, what changed, what is now possible—but also giving people really practical guidance on: how do I start really getting something valuable out of these tools? What does it mean for my organisation? How can my organisation leverage these tools better?

“And so, with that combination, I really work to help people get more out of these tools—to help people understand how to get these tools to really serve.”

Q: In a world of constant disruption, what strategies should business leaders prioritise to build organisational resilience and stay adaptive to emerging technologies?

Alison McCauley: “So, the reality is that organisations can no longer truly futureproof. Things are moving too fast. Change is coming too fast. Innovation is coming too fast. But what you can do is build your resiliency for the future.

“There are a couple of things that I talk to leaders about—things to think about and work on in order to build that future resiliency. First of all, it’s about accelerating your speed to learn. How can you accelerate the way that your organisation learns and brings those learnings into the organisation—ingests that learning?

“And the good news is that there are some organisational structures, mechanisms and approaches that we can use to do that.

“The second thing is really to proactively lean into engaging with the emerging—the shape of change. How are these new technologies going to impact the shape of change and the shift in our competitive landscape? What becomes possible in our businesses? What does that mean for the new expectations our customers will have?

“So really leaning into that learning and building your learning ecosystem outside of your four walls is a really important step. And again, the good news is that there are structures and approaches for that too.

“The last thing I’ll emphasise is that no matter how agile you think your organisation is—it is not agile enough.

“A lot of this is being driven by the opportunity in AI. Organisations, teams, and people will be able to do so much more—be capable of so much more than they were—and punch above their weight because these tools are so powerful.

“So, what does that mean? That means your competitors might look different. AI may change your competitive landscape, and it’s really important to increase your agility as an organisation in order to respond to that.

“Unfortunately, we no longer have the opportunity to truly be futureproof. But if we’re able to increase our agility, accelerate our speed to learn, and really proactively understand where the—as we would say—the puck is headed, then we’re able to have a fighting.”

This exclusive interview with Alison McCauley was conducted by Mark Matthews.