It Pays To Use AI On The Sly At Work

That's why companies need to think of ways to encourage open adoption.

- Pilita Clark

At the start of April, the 1,500 staff at a British law firm called Shoosmiths received some unexpected news.

The firm had created a £1 million ($1.7 million) bonus pot that would be shared out between them, as long as they collectively used Microsoft Copilot, the firm's chosen generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool, at least one million times this financial year.

In other words, they had 12 months to rack up enough Copilot prompts between themselves to unlock the £1 million.

Mr David Jackson, their chief executive, did not think this would be too hard.

As he pointed out to colleagues, the one million target would be easily reached if everyone used Copilot just four times each working day.

To help, the firm would track and publicly report prompt numbers each month, all the better to boost the use of what Mr Jackson called the "powerful enabler" of AI.

I did not hear about Shoosmiths' move from Shoosmiths, but from two academics at the HEC Paris business school, associate professors Cathy Yang and David Restrepo Amariles.

They spotted it as they prepared to publish some relevant and eye-opening research, on the very human ways in which Copilot, ChatGPT and other generative AI products are being used in the office.