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AI and culture: the silent shift leaders can’t ignore
by Semira Soraya-Kandan, 25.08.2025Why AI is never culture-free
(c) 2025 Soraya-Kandan. Waterlilies as metaphor for hidden layers of culture.
Organizations implementing AI without cultural alignment are missing a critical threat. While leaders focus on deployment metrics and efficiency gains, AI isn't just transforming workflows—it's reshaping the cultural foundations of how work gets done.
AI introduces new communicative actors into organisations — shaping what is noticed and observed, what is ignored, and how choices are made.
Edgar Schein’s three levels of organisational culture serve as a lens to understand this shift. His model reveals why this cultural shift is so deceptive. Organizational culture operates on three levels: the visible artifacts (tools, processes, symbols), the espoused values (what we say we believe), and the underlying assumptions (unconscious beliefs about human nature, relationships, and how work gets done). Like waterlilies, what we see on the surface—the AI tools themselves—is just the tip. The real transformation happens in the hidden depths.
Artefacts and AI: the new tools are not culture-free
Artefacts are the most visible layer of culture. In Edgar Schein’s model, they include the tools, processes, symbols, and rituals through which culture expresses itself — and which simultaneously also form culture. This systemic relationship is reciprocal.
With AI, new artefacts now dominate the workplace: dashboards, chatbots, auto-generated reports, and digital assistants. They may look like just another layer of technology. But they are not culture-free. They are designed in other contexts, shaped by certain values and biases, and trained on data that reflect assumptions not necessarily your own.
(c) 2025 Soraya-Kandan via ChatGPT
When companies ignore this, the cost is high. Klarna, for example, famously scaled chatbots across its customer service, only to pull back and reinstate humans after customer trust eroded. The artefacts looked efficient, but they clashed with core cultural and relational expectations — damaging reputation and customer loyalty.
Why are artefacts deceptive?
Artefacts mislead because they are so visible. Leaders see AI tools everywhere and assume visibility signals readiness. But cultural readiness is not about rolling out tools. It is about recognising that these tools carry alien logics that must be questioned and tested against the values and assumptions that define your organisation.
Recent research suggests organizations with aligned culture and strategy achieve 42.7% revenue growth, while misaligned ones experience -0.1% growth—highlighting the tangible cost of cultural blindness (Kriegel & O'Reilly, 2023).
The first step in becoming AI-ready is not buying more technology. It is becoming culturally aware. Leaders must ask: Do the AI artefacts we adopt align with our values and assumptions — or are we quietly letting in logics that will undermine the culture we depend on?
(c) 2025 Soraya-Kandan via ChatGPT
From awareness to action
You may need to change your culture to be future-ready, strong enough to grow, and sharp enough to hold an edge in a changing market. But this is a change you want to plan — to consciously reflect on, accompany, and steer as much as possible.
Algorithms must be aligned linguistically, attuned to national or local culture, and integrated into the specific history and values of your organisation. Otherwise, you risk adapting in ways that erode the very DNA that defines your company — losing sight of the story you want to tell about who you are becoming.
From tools to culture
Elena Esposito's research reveals a crucial insight: AI functions less as artificial intelligence as it lacks understanding and consciousness. She therefore reframes AI as artificial communication. As such, chatbots are never just tools that produce outputs. When you deploy a chatbot or automated system, you're not just adding efficiency—you're adding a new voice to your organizational conversations. And since all communication shapes culture, AI becomes a cultural actor, influencing how your organization works and relates to stakeholders.
And conversations are always cultural.
The important readiness question is not "Do we have the tools in place?" but whether our culture is mature enough to make AI work as enabler to delight your customers.
Next steps
What needs to happen to update your culture to build AI-enabled workplaces?
If you want to explore where your culture stands — and what it would take to make it AI-ready — let’s talk.
References
Literature
Kriegel, J., & O'Reilly, C. (2023). Adaptive alignment drives business growth: How aligning purpose, strategy, and culture with adaptability leads to revenue growth and improved business outcomes. Culture Partners in collaboration with Stanford University.