Author and behavioral scientist Gleb Tsipursky has been studying artificial intelligence for years — before popular platforms like ChatGPT and Claude hit the scene.
With his PhD in behavioral science, he analyzes why the workforce is wary of AI.
In his book titled “The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results,” he explores the pitfalls that companies seeking to incorporate AI tools often encounter.
HPR spoke with Tsipursky to learn more about his research around reconciling the human psyche with artificial intelligence.
“AI has a lot of people worried and scared and concerned, and you can see that in the backlash against data centers and in the recent conversation about AI killing us all that are pretty serious,” he began. “All of these are expressions of deeper underlying anxieties.”
Trying to adopt AI assistants without first addressing these anxieties, he explained, is a critical hurdle that prevents the technology from being properly utilized.
“We have clear research from MIT showing that something like 95% of AI pilots fail to scale. They don't show return on investment when companies try to roll them out,” he told HPR.
The lessons in his book apply to companies across the nation, but especially to Hawaiʻi, where local small business is a cherished backbone of the island community.
“When I work with Hawaiian small businesses, what I talk about is focusing on using it internally,” Tsipursky said.
“Companies too often focus on automating the most economically productive things, but those are things that are core to who we are as professionals.”
More information about Tsipursky’s work and his new book, “The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results,” can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 21, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
