In their recent insights report Six Key Dimensions for Succesful AI Adoption, Implement Consulting Group introduces the concept of GPT hesitancy to explain the caution underlying adoption rates.

GPT hesitancy, Implement suggests, stems from two conflicts. One personal, the other inter- and intraorganisational. I won’t have anything to say about the latter here.

The first reflects an internal tension between the desire to benefit from the productivity and quality gains that AI offers with the fear of appearing less competent to colleagues by relying on AI, a practice sometimes perceived as a form of cheating.

To individuals beset by this tension: Do not hesitate. Be pragmatic. Use the right tool for the job and don’t let anyone shame you for it. If an AI tool helps you work better or do things you couldn’t do before, by all means use it. It will benefit you. It will benefit your organization. And it will benefit society at large – especially if more people adopt this mindset.

I’m reminded of a moment from 2001: A Space Odyssey:

Image: © MGM/Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Kubrick collapses human evolution into a single edit—from a bone hurled into the sky, mankind’s first tool, to a satellite orbiting Earth, the pinnacle of our technological achievement. It’s a visual metaphor for a leap in capability—the moment when tool use begins to redefine what it means to be human.

GPT adoption today may represent a similarly pivotal moment: a leap in how humans augment thought and productivity. Those who embrace the tool early are not cheating – they’re evolving.

Imagine if, at that first turning point, early humans had refused to use the bone out of fear it would make them seem weak or unworthy. Civilization would never have left the ground.

The fear of seeming less competent must not outweigh the opportunity to become more capable. Using AI is not a shortcut. It is the next step.