What 2025 Showed Us About AI and Work

Welcome to The Logical Box!

Your guide to making AI work with how work actually happens.

Hey, Andrew here!

As the year ends, thank you for reading The Logical Box in 2025.

Whether you have been here from the start or joined along the way, I appreciate you. This newsletter was built to help you slow down and think clearly about AI. That has not changed.

This year, AI was everywhere. In meetings. In sales pitches. In the tools your team already uses. It was hard to know what actually mattered.

But here is what I learned.

The most important thing AI showed us this year was not about what it can do.

It showed us something about how we work.

Some teams used AI and got real results. Less busywork. Faster decisions. Fewer mistakes. Other teams tried AI and it made things worse. More confusion. More rework. More frustration.

The difference was not the tool.

The difference was whether the work was clear before AI touched it.

When people knew who owned what, what "done" looked like, and how work moved from step to step, AI helped. When that was missing, AI just made the mess bigger.

AI does not fix unclear work. It only amplifies unclear work.

That one lesson shaped everything I am building for 2026.

What the data says about 2026

This is not just my opinion. Here is what researchers and analysts are seeing:

AI agents are moving into real operations. These are systems that can handle multi-step tasks on their own. According to PwC, companies are moving away from scattered pilots toward enterprise-wide AI strategies with focused investments in key workflows. Microsoft reports that 81% of business leaders expect AI agents to be deeply integrated into their strategic roadmap within the next 12 to 18 months.

Data readiness is becoming the real bottleneck. A new study by CData found that only 6% of enterprise AI leaders consider their data infrastructure ready for AI. The research shows that 60% of companies with high AI maturity have invested in advanced data infrastructure, while 53% of companies struggling with AI are held back by immature data systems. The tool is not the problem. The foundation is.

Leaders are demanding real ROI, not experiments. Ecosystm's 2026 enterprise AI report notes that organizations are pulling back from big experiments and prioritizing smaller deployments that deliver tangible business outcomes. Projects without short-term metrics or realistic ROI timelines will be deferred.

Human skills are rising in value. According to Solutions Review, as AI automates mundane tasks, soft skills like collaboration, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and judgment will be more valuable and in higher demand. The most valuable professionals in 2026 will combine technical AI fluency with distinctly human capabilities that machines cannot replicate.

These are not predictions about a distant future. These are patterns showing up right now.

And they all point to the same thing: AI assumes the work is already clear. Without that, the technology does not fail dramatically. It fails by adding complexity.

What is coming next

The Logical Box will continue as a weekly newsletter. Each issue will focus on one place where work breaks down, why it matters, and one idea you can use right away.

Less noise. More clarity.

But I also know that reading is not always enough. Some of you want a place to ask questions, get unstuck, and learn alongside other people going through the same thing.

That is why I built the AI Clarity Hub.

My NEW Community! AI Clarity Hub

AI is not going away. It is becoming part of how work gets done.

Just like the internet did 25 years ago.

Back then, some people waited. They thought it would pass. It did not. The ones who learned early had an advantage that compounded over time.

AI is following the same path. The question is not whether you will use it. The question is whether you will learn it on your terms or scramble to catch up later.

The AI Clarity Hub is my new private community where I guide you through AI step by step. No jargon. No hype. Just clear, practical learning you can actually use.

What you get inside:

• Monthly live trainings and video calls with me

• Private GPTs built for the community

• Two prompt libraries with approximately 60 ready-to-use prompts

• Training videos (unlocking soon)

• Digital downloads made for your business

• A supportive community where you can ask questions anytime

The outcome:

You stop feeling behind. You stop guessing. You start using AI with confidence because you understand where it fits and where it does not.

This is not about chasing every new tool. It is about learning how to think clearly so AI works for you instead of adding to your workload.

If you want a place to learn AI without feeling overwhelmed, you belong here.

Join the AI Clarity Hub for $49/month: https://www.skool.com/ai-clarity-club-3961/about

One question to carry into January

Before the year ends, pick one piece of work you do regularly and ask yourself:

What does "done" actually mean here?

If the answer is clear, AI can help. If it is not, AI will create rework.

Clarity first. Then support.

I will see you in January thank you for sticking around this year!

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Keener
Founder of Keen Alliance Consulting & Your Guide at The Logical Box