AI Adoption & Training: Getting your people to use AI well, and safely

Executive summary

Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index found that 75% of knowledge workers use AI at work, and 78% of AI users bring their own tools.¹
Only 39% of AI users had received AI training from their company, and 60% of leaders worried their company lacked a plan to implement AI.¹
Unmanaged use creates data risk. Customer information pasted into public tools may fall within the scope of the UAE Personal Data Protection Law.²
McKinsey found that CEO oversight of AI governance was the factor most correlated with higher bottom-line impact from generative AI.³
Adoption is a management programme: practical training by role, written rules, approved tools and clear ownership.

01Market context

AI use at work is already widespread and largely informal. In the 2024 Work Trend Index, 75% of knowledge workers said they use AI at work, and 78% of those users brought their own AI tools. Only 39% had received AI training from their employer, while 79% of leaders agreed AI adoption is critical to remain competitive.¹

Exhibit 1 Use is ahead of training

Knowledge workers using AI at work75%

AI users bringing their own AI tools78%

AI users trained by their company39%

Source: Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index.

Leadership matters. McKinsey’s March 2025 study found that a CEO’s oversight of AI governance was the element most correlated with higher self-reported bottom-line impact from generative AI. Only 28% of respondents said their CEO held that responsibility.³

02The challenge

Everyone uses a different tool, with different results and no shared standard.
Customer data goes into public tools because nobody said it shouldn’t.
Training is generic: a webinar on what AI is, rather than how to do this job better.
No owner. IT thinks it is an HR matter; HR thinks it is an IT matter.
Fear. Staff worry that using AI openly signals their job can be automated.

03Our point of view

Training works when it is about the job, not the technology. A sales coordinator needs to learn how to draft a proposal faster and check it properly. A finance officer needs to learn what never to paste into a public tool. We train by role, using your own documents and tasks.

Rules come first. Before training, we agree with leadership which tools are approved, what data may be used, and what must always be checked by a person. Then training teaches people to work confidently inside those rules.

04How the programme works

Assess. A short survey and interviews show how AI is used today and where the risks are.
Set the rules. An AI use policy, approved tools and data guidelines, agreed with leadership.
Train by role. Practical sessions built on real tasks for each team.
Embed. Prompt libraries, SOPs and named champions in each team.
Review. Usage and quality are checked, and the programme is updated.

Exhibit 2 Rules first, then training

Assess
How AI is used today

Rules
Policy and approved tools

Train
By role, on real tasks

Embed
SOPs, champions, review

Our adoption programme.

05What you receive

An AI use policy and data guidelines in plain language.
Role-based training for each team, using your own work.
SOPs and a prompt library for common tasks.
A governance model: who owns AI decisions, approvals and reviews.

06Measures of success

Share of staff trained and actively using approved tools
Time saved on targeted tasks, reported by teams
Reduction in use of unapproved tools
Quality checks on AI-assisted work
Policy acknowledgement and incident reports

07Risks and governance

Data protection. Rules on personal and confidential data, aligned with the UAE PDPL.²
Accuracy. AI output is checked by a person before it reaches a customer.
Intellectual property. Guidance on what may be shared with external tools.
Accountability. A named executive owns AI governance.

This paper is general guidance and not legal advice.

08Illustrative scenario

ILLUSTRATIVE — NOT A CLIENT CASE STUDY

A 120-person trading company finds staff using several public AI tools, including for drafting customer quotations that contain pricing and client details.

Leadership approves one tool and a one-page AI use policy. Sales, finance and operations each get a half-day session built on their own documents. Each team names a champion and keeps a shared prompt library. Three months on, the company reviews usage and updates the rules.

09Frequently asked questions

Should we just ban public AI tools?: Bans tend to push use out of sight. Approved tools with clear rules are usually safer.
Who should attend training?: Everyone who will use AI, with separate sessions for leaders on governance and decisions.
Can you train in Arabic?: Training language and materials are agreed with each client.

AI Adoption & Training