The A.I. Conversations (That Aren’t) Happening — But Are Now
A Big Topic. No Owner. High Stakes.
Artificial intelligence isn’t a niche innovation anymore — it’s reshaping how people work, create, decide, and relate. And yet, across organizations, the most important conversations about AI often aren’t happening.
Not because people don’t care — but because the topic feels:
overwhelming
politically charged
ethically loaded
emotionally tender
So PopUpThinkTank convened a Big Topic session — not to decide strategy or design tools, but to create a space where honest, human, cross-role conversations about AI could finally begin.
Who Came Together
30+ Thinkers across startup, corporate, impact, and independent worlds
This session intentionally brought together people who don’t usually share the same room — but are being shaped by the same forces.
Participants included:
Corporate leaders and managers from organizations like Target, Thrivent, and Fusion Risk Management
Applied AI and technology leaders from firms including Applied AI, Leavity Systems, Civic Stream, GroupGenius.io, and Intuitive Tactics
Independent consultants, coaches, and facilitators working in leadership development, equity, systems change, and learning & development
Creative founders and entrepreneurs building new practices at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and human development
Titles ranged from:
Director & Senior Manager
Founder & CEO
Principal Consultant
Coach & Facilitator
Product, Innovation, and Systems Leaders
What united them wasn’t industry — it was proximity to change, responsibility for people, and a shared sense that “something important is happening here… and we’re not talking about it well enough yet.”
The Challenge
Naming the Conversation We’re Avoiding
Rather than starting with tools or tactics, the session centered on a single creative challenge:
“In a time when AI feels both exciting and overwhelming, how might we shape an AI future that supports our own journeys — and creates collective value along the way?”
This framing deliberately avoided fear-based narratives and techno-utopian hype. Instead, it invited participants to sit in the tension — curiosity and hesitation, possibility and responsibility.
How a ‘ThinkTank’ Session Works
Structure without pressure. Momentum without forced answers.
Participants moved through:
Individual reflection using Like / Wish / Wonder to ground personal experience
Small-group breakouts exploring lived experience with AI, near-term strategic moves, long-horizon imagination.
Rapid idea capture focused on quantity, curiosity, and “yes, and” thinking
No debating. No performing. No pretending to have it figured out.
What emerged—5 patterns surfaced quickly — and consistently.
1. Curiosity is everywhere. Confidence is not.
Many participants are already experimenting with AI — often quietly.
“I like the speed and creativity it brings.”
“I wish I knew when I was ‘doing it right.’”
“The blank prompt box feels intimidating.”
AI isn’t being resisted — it’s being tiptoed around.
2. Shame is a bigger barrier than skill
Across roles and sectors, fear of looking uninformed showed up more than fear of the technology itself.
“Could we have shared spaces to learn without shame?”
“I wish organizations would set norms that aren’t fear-based.”
This question became one of the most resonant ideas of the session.
3. Ethics and humanity came before efficiency
Participants consistently centered values — not productivity.
“We need to keep bias and humanity front and center.”
“Leading with ethics matters more than moving fast.”
Trust, not tooling, felt like the real adoption curve.
4. People want AI framed as a partner — not a replacement
Especially among experienced practitioners, there was a strong desire to protect craft, judgment, and expertise.
“I wish it was framed as an amplifier of mastery, not a replacement.”
The fear wasn’t irrelevance — it was erosion of meaning.
5. The group wanted to shape this together
AI was rarely discussed as an individual productivity hack. Instead, participants gravitated toward collective responsibility and shared learning.
“What if we use it to lift voices that are usually sidelined?”
“How do we shape an AI future that creates value for all — not just a few?”
Why This Session Mattered
Because the absence of conversation is already shaping outcomes.
What this PopUpThinkTank revealed wasn’t a lack of intelligence or readiness — but a lack of safe, structured spaces to talk honestly about AI as a human and cultural shift.
By convening a diverse room and naming the tension out loud, the session:
normalized uncertainty
reduced isolation
surfaced shared language
and replaced quiet anxiety with collective curiosity
No one left with “the answer.”
Many left with momentum.
A Closing Reflection
The conversations that aren’t happening yet may be the most important ones to begin.
This Big Topic session showed that when people are given:
permission to not know
structure to contribute
and dignity in how they’re invited
They don’t shut down.
They lean in.
And that may be the most important signal of all.
The best way to discover whether PopUpThinkTank is right for your situation isn’t a sales call. It’s the Session Builder— a short, guided experience designed to help: clarify the moment you’re in, surface what’s actually at stake, see what a session could unlock.
Takes less than five minutes.
And for many leaders, it creates value before they ever talk to us.
