Plants grow in weird places - and so does AI

Plants grow in weird places. Through cracks in concrete, out of walls, anywhere they can get a grip. (Ed note: this is not true for plants I try to grow myself - they seldom last a year.)

I see parallels between these plants and how AI adoption is evolving: many well-intentioned AI projects fail (think about Klarna rehiring human support agents), and many surprising wins emerge (LLMs are now solving open Erdős mathematics problems).

How do CEOs plan for this randomness? How do you project ROI when the landscape is shifting so quickly? The reality is that you can't predict where AI will take root. All you can do is to be ready to capitalise when it does.

The simplest silver bullet is investing in your people: when teams understand how AI works and why it's important to the business, they start to see places where AI can add value. This keeps your powder dry for truly valuable projects that have already proven that they work.

Building AI capacity requires ongoing professional development, perhaps more than any other domain ever has, simply because it changes so fast, and we are learning so much about what works and what does not.

At Caversham House, we are doubling down on this space in 2026: adding extensive microlearning courses to help teams stay on top of relevant trends and curating an ever-expanding library of thought leadership articles that cut through the noise to the heart of what matters.

2025 was … A lot. We think 2026 is going to be even more. Excited to see where it leads!