Learners demand hands-on experience. The next evolution of training involves AI agents that act as sidekicks, not just explaining concepts but also taking over the user's screen to demonstrate precisely how to perform a task, dramatically accelerating skill acquisition and reducing friction.

The viral adoption of tools like Claude Code by non-technical users demonstrates a market shift. Unlike advisory AIs (e.g., ChatGPT) that offer guidance, these new "doer" tools actively complete tasks like building a website, providing immediate, tangible value that lowers the barrier to creation for everyone.

Convincing users to adopt AI agents hinges on building trust through flawless execution. The key is creating a "lightbulb moment" where the agent works so perfectly it feels life-changing. This is more effective than any incentive, and advances in coding agents are now making such moments possible for general knowledge work.

To convince executives at traditional companies of AI's potential, abstract presentations fail. Instead, provide tangible, immersive experiences. A ride in a Waymo car, for instance, serves as a powerful product demo that makes the future feel concrete and inevitable, opening minds in a way slideshows cannot.

Investor Brent Beshore's experience demonstrates a step-function change, not a gradual evolution. His firm's agentic AI projects, which failed after months of effort, were completed in minutes using Claude Cowork just weeks later. This highlights the surprisingly rapid transition of agentic AI from a theoretical concept to a practical, value-creating tool.

Generic use cases fail to persuade leadership. To get genuine AI investment, build a custom tool that solves a specific, tangible pain point for an executive. An example is an 'AI board member' trained on past feedback to critique board decks before a meeting, making the value undeniable.

To foster genuine AI adoption, introduce it through play. Instead of starting with a hackathon focused on business problems, the speaker built an AI-powered scavenger hunt for her team's off-site. This "dogfooding through play" approach created a positive first interaction, demystified the technology, and set a culture of experimentation.

Anthropic's Cowork isn't a technological leap over Claude Code; it's a UI and marketing shift. This demonstrates that the primary barrier to mass AI adoption isn't model power, but productization. An intuitive UI is critical to unlock powerful tools for the 99% of users who won't use a command line.

Instead of passively learning about AI, executives should actively deploy a simple agentic product. This hands-on experience of training and QA provides far more valuable, practical knowledge than any course or subscription, putting you ahead of 90% of peers.