AI Trends, Tribulations and Transformations

Tuesday, June 2, 2026
8am PDT | 11am EDT | 4pm BST (1 hour duration)

Speakers: Alec Levenson, Sr Research Scientist, CEO and Serena Huang, founder of Data with Serena, enterprise AI transformation leader, and Affiliate Senior Research Scientist, CEO.

Everyone is asking how many jobs AI will eliminate, and doomsayers warn of a coming jobs apocalypse. But most forecasts rely on a flawed assumption: that work can be cleanly broken into tasks, automated in isolation, and then translated directly into headcount reduction. That’s not how organizations actually work.

We are at an early inflection point for AI adoption. Though the initial hype has passed, reports of struggles to effectively adopt AI and achieve meaningful ROI are everywhere.

In this session, Alec Levenson and Serena Huang address the past, present and future of AI disruption, including:

• Why AI job displacement forecasts break down when they assume task automation can be directly translated into headcount reduction
• Why AI value depends on work re-design and business process transformation, with humans still essential for judgment, systems integration and accountability
• Why measuring ROI of AI is becoming the real bottleneck in 2026, as organizations struggle to connect pilots to improved business outcomes
• How AI is creating uneven productivity gains while introducing hidden costs
• How leading organizations are starting to redesign executive compensation and KPIs to support AI adoption and shift behavior toward new ways of working

SPEAKERS

University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination

This program is open to all eligible individuals. The Center for Effective Organizations operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.