Either Slow or Not That Good – Definitely Done by a Human

Interview with AI expert Filip Dřímalka

Unlock unprecedented levels of productivity, efficiency and potential! The future of “no work” is here – are you ready to lead in a world powered by AI? „AI isn’t just about tech – it’s about how we use it to work smarter, faster, and better“, says Filip Dřímalka who started to live in a symbiosis with AI. In this interview with Christian Rühmkorf he shares why businesses must act now to stay competitive and how leaders can drive digital transformation by embracing AI, fostering a culture of innovation and experience sharing.

Filip, you delivered the keynote at the German Czech Economic Forum on November 12th here at the Prague Hauch Gallery. What was your main message to the CEOs of these big companies, and did this honorable audience get your message?

I hope so. I wanted to deliver two messages. The first one is that we already have access to the best AI tools and both individuals and organizations can use it right now. So, it’s not about the technology, but what we want to do with it. The second one is that what we really need is the ambition and courage to take action, because if we want to stay competitive, AI is one of the most important elements businesses should focus on.

I briefly mentioned what is already possible with AI at the beginning. Now, let’s talk about a world in which companies completely ignore AI. If they didn’t adjust to this innovation, what would that world look like?

Unfortunately, we still see companies that ignore AI and don’t provide their employees with the best tools., What takes hours in those companies could actually be done in seconds or minutes when using AI. As a result, people end up repeating the same tasks over and over again. And the worst part about this is that they cannot utilize their talent and the intelligence offered by AI to focus on more interesting, useful and valuable work. So, if you look around you and people are not using AI 20 to 30 times per day, they are essentially not using it at all.

“I started to live in a symbiosis with AI “

Oh, that’s a bad message. Also for us.

It’s a process. We all started somewhere, and to be honest, it’s only been a couple of weeks since I started to live in a symbiosis with AI. I think it’s really a journey, but it’s important to focus on it and make it a top priority.

Let’s talk about what leaders can do because you always need somebody to lead in these processes.
It could be, let’s say ambassadors among the employees, but ideally, it should be top management setting a good example going forward. So, what steps can leaders take to foster a culture that embraces digital transformation at every level of the organization?

We recently organised a survey, AImpact, and many participants mentioned that the leadership does not support their AI initiatives. I think they can do only one thing, which is to allow people to use the best tools and let them play a little bit. When you give people the best tools, that’s when the magic happens. But what managers and leaders can really do is start working with AI themselves, because that’s the only way they’ll understand both its possibilities and limitations.
Once they do, they’ll begin to feel the urgency of how useful these tools can be, and they’ll start to challenge and push their team to use it. Leaders should also understand how AI will transform their respective fields. For example, leaders in HR should know how AI will impact HR, leaders in sales should understand its impact on sales, and so on. Additionally, leaders should support the initiatives of AI ambassadors and employees.

Please gives us a concrete step on how to support the use of AI within a team.

One initiative I strongly recommend, and we implemented ourselves, is to organise a 30-minute or one-hour session every week where everyone needs to show at least one way they’ve used AI during the previous week. Sharing experiences like this is incredibly powerful. It pushes people to use AI because they need to present it to other colleagues, but they also receive feedback on how to use it even better. So basically, your people’s mindset is gradually shifting and over time, you’ll see that they really begin using it efficiently and leave some work up to AI.

I think compliance is coming into this discussion. In small companies there are fewer regulations. But being the CEO of a large corporation often means navigating strict compliance requirements concerning the use of AI.

Many people in large organizations already use AI tools discreetly. If we don’t provide the best tools, they’ll resort to “grey” IT – free versions of software that pose greater risks. Secure tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or the French model Mistral are SOC-compliant and don’t train models with your data. Some even work offline without internet access. Compliance, risk management, and IT security should focus on safely integrating these tools into organizations. Simple options like Microsoft or Google exist, but the gap between top-tier and average tools is growing. AI’s capabilities are equivalent to having 10 or even 100 virtual employees, which shows its transformative potential.

“Even 100 virtual employees, which shows its transformative potential“

What common mistakes do managers and businesses make when incorporating AI into their strategies, and how can they avoid these mistakes? When I think about strategies, I wonder if it’s still the right time for long-term planning, given how disruptive everything is…

Many consultancy companies still sell strategies, and businesses still buy them. However, clients – and many of us – often make three key mistakes. First, they view AI as an IT initiative, when it’s really a company-wide effort. Each department should develop its own AI strategy based on internal insights rather than relying on external companies. Teams need to identify how they will use AI and build their strategy accordingly.

Second, there’s a lack of clear milestones. It’s essential to discover where AI provides real value, whether through automation or deeper contributions.

Third, businesses focus too much on finding AI use cases and processes to automate. The real value lies in augmenting human capital—giving employees more intelligence, speed, and collaboration support. Instead of prioritizing automation for cost savings, we should empower people to work smarter, faster, and better.

When we talk about skills, which digital skills do you believe will be the most critical for businesses to develop in the next five years, or rather, in the next month?

Five years is a long time, but the best innovators are those who combine expertise with technology. A major trend in office innovation is the rise of low-code and no-code platforms, enabling workers without programming skills to build systems and automations with AI. The future will be shaped by combining these tools with the ability to identify where to innovate. This is what professionals like lawyers or HR do: spotting opportunities to apply technology. IT departments often lack capacity, with great ideas pushed far down the priority list. But with the right tools, employees can build automations themselves, without relying on external suppliers or overburdened internal IT teams.

But how to get there?

That’s why one of the key points I emphasize is the idea of a ‚Digital Chief Officer‘ for each team. Every team should have at least one person who understands how to work with technology, enabling them to build and improve the team’s systems. This involves local automation, AI and advanced digital skills that allow someone, for example, to run a script. AI can handle the script, I just need to know how to run it. With a little advancement in digital skills, we could all be programmers in the future. This is the direction we should aim for to upskill our teams.

“It’s either slow or not that good, which means a human did it“

Changing mindsets in this direction is challenging. So, how to make the shift from being non-users to active users? Your book is titled “The Future of No Work”. It’s provocative, but what’s the underlying message?

First, you’re right, it does take time, and I think it’s more about unlearning than learning. Most people are used to doing the work themselves, but we can actually delegate much of that to AI. This is exactly what “The Future of No Work” is about, that we are giving instructions and AI is performing the work. That’s why I talk about skills and capabilities. Imagine you want to analyse how the media talks about German businesses in the Czech Republic.
In the past you needed specialized tools, an agency and so on. Today, one tool can scrape all the relevant news, and you can simply upload it to Claude and ask a couple of questions and it’s done. Is this still “work”? Technically yes, but it’s a very different kind where AI will work on our behalves and we do the work that does not seem like work at all. So, this is something that I often tell my colleagues: “I hope you won’t do this”, meaning they should do it with the help of AI. I can always tell if someone used AI or not. It’s either slow or not that good, which means a human did it.

“Slow and not that good” – What a frustrating message…

This might be frustrating at first, but once you start collaborating with AI, you’ll find it amazing.

“The bigger impact will be in office roles“

As AI begins to take over more tasks, do you think we could see a significant rise in unemployment, particularly in industries like manufacturing?

Not so much in production, as much of it has already been automated. If you look at places like Skoda or Volkswagen, production is already highly automated. The bigger impact will be in office roles. People will get replaced with AI for sure, and it’s up to entrepreneurs and innovators to create those new opportunities. I think we will see 2 extremes:
One is small teams or even single-person businesses doing incredible things with AI, and the other is a larger number of people transitioning from jobs in areas like customer service to new fields. We’ve been trying to replace work for centuries, yet people continue to work. Our society is complex, and while change is inevitable, I believe there will always be opportunities for those eager to work. They just need to adapt.

“AI is much easier than with Microsoft Excel“

Another social aspect: How do we keep employees, especially those over 50, engaged with working on AI?

I believe that AI is a very inclusive technology. You talk to AI, so it’s not about programming or controlling complex hardware. In fact, being able to work with AI is much easier than with Microsoft Excel. That’s why it’s really more about curiosity and willingness to learn. My father, who’s 70 started using AI and uses it for almost everything.

Did you help your father?

No, I just showed him how it worked. He had a meeting with other property owners in his building and wanted to write the summary and a contract. Once he realized how helpful AI could be, he began using it on his own. So, it’s not about age, gender or background. Unfortunately, not all of us want to learn and will wait until they have to. That’s where organizations come in. They need to motivate and support people to reskill and upskill. However, there will always be some who need a push to get started. My advice is to focus on those who are willing to learn, and over time, others will see the benefits and follow suit.

“Focus on those who are willing to learn“

Can you share examples of companies that have successfully fostered a culture of continuous learning and the results they have achieved with AI?

One great example is CME, a group of TV stations in six different countries in Central and Eastern Europe. We started working with them just a few months after ChatGPT was launched. They began with one department, the production team, and identified „AI ambassadors“ within the team. These ambassadors started to use AI and then shared how they use it.
For example, someone who used to spend hours organizing TV series schedules now has an AI tool that reduces this task from 43 minutes to just 5 seconds. Another employee who spent 8 to 12 hours a week searching for participants for TV shows automated the process with AI, which now only takes 20 minutes. It’s a great example of AI making work more efficient, and after a year, the results have been fantastic.
Another example is Airbank. All in all, many companies are still in the early stages of integrating AI, and most are still figuring out where it can be most helpful. So, I recommend starting small and with those who are eager to use AI.

You can listen to the interview as a podcast.

» DTIHK-Podcast BusinessWisser

While it’s exciting to see the progress AI is making, here’s a more concerning thought: As we integrate more AI into our lives, we become overly reliant on it, unlearning work like writing and structuring, and one day, AI disappears? How would we handle that?

It’s similar to how we rely on electricity or the internet – if either were to suddenly disappear, most organizations would stop functioning. I’ve even been in a company where, without electricity, you couldn’t even open the bathroom door! We’re at a similar point with AI. While it has its flaws, we’re still in the early stages. Over time, AI will become more autonomous and stable. And as someone mentioned at the Economic Forum, we are engineers, and both Germany and the Czech Republic have incredible engineers. I’m confident we can fix almost anything. Of course, there will be challenges and negative impacts, but as an optimist, I believe we’ll overcome them.

Optimistic conclusion at the end, great! But we won’t let you go without recommending the first three steps for leaders to take…

First, get the best AI tool for a month or two and allow your people to experiment with it. Then start using it yourself. Save it as a shortcut in your browser and use it every time you need to compose a new e-mail prepare a presentation. Lastly, set up regular sharing sessions with your peers. Sharing experiences is powerful! So, experiment, share, and you’ll naturally start using it more.

Thank you very much, Filip. Next time I’ll be already talking to your avatar, I guess…

Sure, let’s make that happen!

Interview: Christian Rühmkorf
Foto: Jaromír Zubák, Zuzana Zavadilová, Archiv Filip Dřímalka