Beyond Adoption: Embracing the Duality of GenAI as a Societal Shift

By: Leon Como & ChatGPT o3

The latest Ivanti study, covered in a timely article by Axios' Megan Morrone, unveils a reality many leaders are only beginning to grapple with: generative AI (GenAI) is no longer a top-down transformation tool. It has become a distributed force, reshaping individual behavior, organizational dynamics, and sectoral equilibrium.

Workers use ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude in secret

At PRAGMAGILITY, we view this not as a surprising twist, but as a pivotal transition signal. When individuals adopt technology faster than institutions can regulate, a new paradigm emerges. One that requires us to rethink our change systems, coordination models, and value frameworks.

The Duality of Progress

Ivanti's research shows that employees are embracing GenAI at unprecedented rates. For workers, it is a personal productivity amplifier. For organizations, it's a potential operational revolution. But therein lies the duality:

• For the employee, GenAI is an agent of autonomy, creativity, and personal edge.

• For the organization, GenAI is a system optimizer, a way to reengineer workflows and enhance efficiency.

This divergence creates a feedback loop that can either accelerate alignment or magnify misalignment. Without intentional coordination, transformation efforts could stall or fracture.

GenAI as a Distributed Renegotiation of Value

The central insight here is this: GenAI isn’t just another wave of digital transformation. It is a distributed renegotiation of value between individuals, firms, and entire sectors. Each person using GenAI is, knowingly or not, reshaping the balance of contribution and return within their system.

This phenomenon challenges classic change management approaches. PRAGMAGILITY's Circles and Triangles Framework (CTF) offers a path forward by:

• Mapping the core (circle) of value each stakeholder holds

• Defining the triangle of levers (value, cost, and adoption) to maintain dynamic tension

• Revealing the alignment pathways between individual initiative and institutional direction

  
  

A Call for Systems-Level Coordination

Most critically, this isn’t just a company-level challenge. The path to sustainable GenAI integration requires industry-wide coordination, inter-institutional alignment, and societal scaffolding. We must:

• Create shared platforms for experimentation and learning

• Build protocols for responsible co-adoption

• Define inclusive yet dynamic transformation trajectories

  
  

Embracing the Conditional, Probabilistic Future

As we move from doomerism toward deliberate optimism, we must acknowledge that GenAI offers us not a fixed path, but a conditionally probabilistic one. The outcomes we shape depend on the quality of decisions we make today, the systems we build to support them, and the integrity with which we navigate uncertainty.

Let us not frame GenAI merely as a tool to be adopted, but as a societal loop to be wisely steered.

At PRAGMAGILITY, we are committed to helping organizations and leaders build the structures, protocols, and frameworks to embrace this new reality. The future of GenAI isn't about replacing people. It's about renegotiating our interdependence in a more intelligent, dynamic, and human-centered way.