AI challenge: what will you do with AI in the next two weeks?

At the AMA conference in Leeds, 2026, Paul Blundell, AMA's Head of Digital Research & Development and Carol Jones, Editor of AMA Culturehive asked 180 people to respond live and anonymously to this question:  

What's one thing you’ll do with AI in the next two weeks? 

After setting aside the humorous answers such as ‘cry’ and ‘give AI a bonus for its hard work’ we grouped the responses into five broad themes. Some answers fitted more than one theme, so the percentages are approximate.  

Here they are in reverse order:

 5: Experiment with AI tools  

Around 10% said they would try another AI platform or explore how AI could support analysis. 

 4: Learn and understand more about ethics and bias 

Approximately 12% indicated they wanted to learn more about ethics and bias and revisit notes from our Essentials of AI course.  

This wasn’t about improving prompting or trying more tools but developing enough understanding to make better choices of how to use AI. 

 3: Use more personal judgement and set boundaries 

Around 18% wanted to question when AI was needed, use it more sparingly or confidently challenge its use.  This is about recovering agency.  

2: Start conversations and push leadership 

Around 22% said they wanted to talk to their teams about AI, ask leaders to take action or bring in external expertise when needed. 

This suggests a move away from isolated individual decisions to more collective discussions and leadership. 

1: Develop, read or revisit AI policy and guidance 

This was the largest theme covering 38% of respondents. People said they wanted to find out whether their organisation has a policy, if not ask for it (some people said ‘again’) or start creating one. They want to explore policy frameworks, standards and connect AI guidance to other organisational policies. 

We also asked the audience to answer questions on what their organisations are currently providing.  

We asked: how well is your organisation helping people build skills and judgement to use AI responsibly? Around 63% said that learning is left to individuals, or the need is recognised but there was no organisational plan.  

Bar chart showing 63% of respondents say AI skills-building is left to individuals or lacks an organisational plan, while smaller percentages report active support or no support at all

We also asked: how clearly does your organisation guide decisions about when AI should, or should not be used? More than 60% said their organisations provided no guidance or that concerns had been recognised but there were few clear rules. 

Bar chart showing over 60% of respondents say their organisation gives no guidance, or has recognised concerns without setting clear rules, on when AI should or shouldn't be used

Finally, we asked: how useful is your organisation’s guidance in practice? 43% said their organisation had no guidance and 9% said they didn’t know if they had it.  

There are signs of progress, around 20% said they have guidance that helps them decide on risk.  

Bar chart showing 43% of respondents say their organisation has no AI guidance, 9% don't know if guidance exists, and around 20% have guidance that helps them assess risk

More than tool adoption 

The key finding is that people do not primarily intend to use more AI.   

Most of the responses were about policy, leadership, personal judgement and conversations with colleagues. Only one in ten focused on exploring AI tools.  

For many people the next steps are clearer policy, shared decisions, stronger leadership and greater accountability.  

This suggests that AI readiness is more than just the ability to use AI. It's about whether people feel able to question its use, make informed choices and shape how it's adopted in their organisations.

Paul Blundell, Head of Digital Research and Development, Arts Marketing Association

Written by the author. AI helped identify themes in the survey responses and suggest copy edits. The final analysis, interpretation and wording are the author’s own.