As touched on in our 2025 tech trends forecast, AI is already firmly planted within society. In fact, it’s transforming the workplace faster than most businesses can keep up with. Since 2022, Google search terms for AI have skyrocketed by over 800% – a clear sign of just how rapidly it’s transforming the world around us. And with automation, machine learning, and generative AI redefining how we work, the real question isn’t if companies should embrace AI, but how they can do it without losing that all-important human touch.
Enter Claire Koryczan, Founder and Director of Imagine Beyond. Claire is a seasoned business strategist, mentor, and speaker who’s driven by a deep passion for creativity, technology and understanding human behaviour. With over 25 years of experience across tech, creative agencies and HR, she partners with founders and senior leaders to enhance people mastery, foster high performance, and inspire collaboration. Through Imagine Beyond, Claire provides transformative learning experiences that empower leaders to embrace entrepreneurial thinking while tackling one of today’s most pressing challenges: how AI is reshaping the way we lead, work, and grow.
With AI dominating the conversation in 2025, and the UK’s Prime Minister pledging to transform the nation into an “AI superpower,” Claire’s thought-provoking SXSW London submission on Artificial Leadership: Data-Driven or Gut-Feeling? couldn’t be more timely. We sat down with her to explore AI’s role in the workplace – where it’s headed, what businesses should prepare for, its impact on women at work, and how leaders can harness AI to scale smarter, not harder.
Let’s get into it…
Firstly, what role do you see AI playing in the evolution of business roles over the next few years?
Right now, we’re at the very beginning of AI’s journey in business in terms of experimenting, seeing what’s possible, and figuring out how to best work with AI tools. More and more businesses are integrating AI systems, but we’re still in the discovery phase, learning what’s possible with all of these different platforms and how we can integrate them into our business processes and workflows.
The more we understand AI’s role in business, the clearer it becomes how it will reshape the workplace, not only in terms of skills, mindset, and different job roles but also in terms of how that’s going to shift businesses in general.
The next step is moving towards AI systems that operate independently from us. This is where the concept of artificial leadership starts to come up. Is the future one where your boss is actually AI, and you’re reporting into someone who’s not actually human? The potential is unlimited really, but it does raise a whole new set of different questions, from the moral and ethical to the philosophical and existential.
How can businesses keep track of the ethical, responsible and effective use of AI as it becomes more embedded in their operations?
Understanding both the strengths and the limitations of AI is key. These tools are incredibly powerful, but they also come with built-in biases, especially in the data they’re trained on. A great example of this is when I used GenAI to generate an image for my SXSW LinkedIn post. Initially, it showed a version of me in a short skirt and heels, with my co-host, Peter, commanding the conversation and no diversity in the audience. I had to be very specific about what I needed, and it took about two hours of tweaking to finally get a visual that felt accurate. As brilliant as these AI tools are, this just highlights how these systems are inherently biased based on the data that’s sitting within them. That’s why we need to be hyper-aware of these limitations, not just in how we interact with AI, but in the decisions we make because of it. If we want AI to drive fair, inclusive outcomes, we need to use it responsibly, being active collaborators curating and challenging the outputs and not just passive users.
What are the most important steps in ensuring AI tools are used ethically within business operations?
Education is absolutely vital to build AI fluency. Learning how to prompt these tools effectively and critically evaluate them is key to integrating them carefully into business practices. Another big factor – and something we’re not quite seeing enough of yet – is transparency around the use of AI. Coca-Cola, for example, created their Christmas ad purely using AI and were really open and upfront about it, which was great to see. Moving forward, we’ll start to see a shift from a phase of experimentation towards businesses being much more explicit about how AI is being used to create content, products and experiences.
How can businesses strike a balance between AI integration and maintaining a human-centred work culture?
As AI continues to evolve, there’s a big question about where human value fits in. Will organisations be led by AI in the future? It’s a challenging, almost existential question. But for now, we’re figuring out how AI can amplify human capacity rather than replace it. This balance between tech and human creativity is vital. We don’t want to fall into the trap of over-relying on AI at the expense of imagination, critical thinking, and human connection. We know from neuroscience that we’ll weaken these capabilities if we don’t regularly use them.
How can businesses bridge the gap between AI-literate talent and key stakeholders to build AI fluency across teams and adopt AI in a balanced way?
The key to bridging this gap is education. There are some fantastic educators out there – Spark, for example, is a great organisation that covers generative AI specifically for creative industries and creative leadership. They’re helping leaders and employees alike better understand how to use these tools effectively. But beyond the technical skills, we also need a mindset shift. AI should enhance human creativity and decision-making, not replace it. It’s about finding the right balance between AI’s potential and the human qualities that make businesses thrive and evolve.
Given the rapid growth of GenAI, how do you view its impact on human creativity and the need for critical thinking in the workplace?
It’s crucial that we don’t automatically reach for GenAI first, especially with the recent news that Google, Microsoft and Apple products are now AI by default. While it’s tempting for us to go to GenAI solutions like ChatGPT, the real value comes from human creativity, problem-solving, and lateral thinking. We need to keep developing these skills, encouraging imagination and that unique human perspective, then harness these tools to build on those foundations. These qualities will become even more important from a leadership standpoint and how we develop the next generation of talent. If we lean too heavily on AI, we risk losing those human qualities that drive innovation, progress and continuous learning.
How do you see the relationship between AI and personal productivity?
GenAI can be a huge productivity booster, but it’s not always the right tool for every task. This is why it’s so important to educate and understand when and how to use it. Sometimes, using AI can simplify complex processes, but at other times, it can risk overcomplicating things. It’s all about knowing when to lean on AI without sacrificing our personal skills or decision-making abilities.
If I rewind 15 years and think about the conversations we were having back then with digital transformation, people were questioning whether Google was making us ‘stupid’ since we weren’t tapping into our own wisdom and knowledge as much, we just ‘asked Google’. The reality is that Google has opened up a whole new world of knowledge at our fingertips, but it’s still up to us how we choose to use it to enhance our work. I see the same with AI. We’re just at the very beginning of that journey.
With the growing influence of AI in everyday life, what do you think will be the biggest challenge for businesses and employees in the future of work?
A lot of tech encourages us to be insular by its nature. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something we need to be mindful of because, as humans, we’re inherently social creatures driven by the desire to connect and belong. Having said that, we evolve depending on the context of our environment – we got a glimpse of that during the pandemic – so as AI becomes more ubiquitous, we must remember that human connection is at the core of a thriving workplace. We can’t let AI dominate to the point where it undermines the importance of trust, empathy and collaboration – those uniquely human aspects that drive businesses forward.
Finally, what effect do you think AI will have on women in the workplace?
AI has amazing potential to empower women by automating tasks, streamlining processes, and, ultimately, freeing up time for more high-value, strategic work, which is immensely valuable. The concern, however, lies in how the technology is applied. We have to be mindful of the biases embedded in these systems, and when those biases do show up, we need to be aware of them and address them proactively. For women, having a seat at the table and a voice in these conversations will be key to driving that awareness.
From my perspective, and perhaps because of the lens through which I see the world, I see this as a great opportunity for women. I encourage women to embrace the chance to tap into their innate creativity, curiosity, innovation, and entrepreneurial, collaborative, community-driven mindset. We have a fantastic opportunity to experiment and collaborate with these systems to discover entirely new ways to add value, not just individually but for society as a whole.
If you’d like to hear more of Claire’s insights on tech, leadership, and the future of work, make sure you follow her on LinkedIn.
