Why AI on Legacy Processes Fails: The 46-Hour to 6-Hour Wake-Up Call

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-16

AI is storming into boardrooms faster than most companies can figure out what to do with it. But according to Jim Harris, a specialist in GenAI and disruptive innovation, the real danger isn't moving too slowly. It's slapping new tech onto old ways of working and expecting magic. Harris has advised executive teams at American Express, Barclays, IBM, SAP, Walmart, and the UK Cabinet Office. In 2024, TEC Canada named him Speaker of the Year for his work on AI. In this exclusive interview with the AI Speakers Agency, he explains why you need to redesign processes from scratch, how to calm employees' fears, and why humans must stay in the loop. ### Creating Psychological Safety Around AI When introducing AI, leaders often trigger fear and resistance. Harris says the first step is psychological safety. > "The majority of people in developed nations actually fear AI. They fear job loss. As adults, we tend to fear things or are uncomfortable with new ways of working." So organizations must be crystal clear: - Your job is safe. - We'll provide training. - This will enhance your skill set and employability. "Those are a few things organizations have to do," Harris notes. ### Why Sprinkling AI Fairy Dust Doesn't Work At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Harris interviewed the head of AI for Ernst & Young (EY) in the US. EY has 400,000 employees and had spent a billion dollars on AI. They had a 46-hour risk management process for clients. They thought, "Let's apply some AI to it." With the original designers, they cut it to 32 hours—a 20% gain. Not bad. Then they tried something different. They paired tech-first, AI-savvy new hires with risk managers who'd never touched the process. They got it down to 15 minutes. But EY needs data compliance and verification. So they added steps back and landed at six hours. "Look at this: 46 hours, 32 hours, 15 minutes, then back to six," Harris says. "It highlights a couple things for me." First, you can't just sprinkle AI fairy dust on existing processes and hope for the greatest gain. You need to start with a blank sheet of paper. Ask: if we were designing this today from first principles, what would we do? Don't take a 2018 process and try to enhance it with AI. Redesign it. Second, the people who designed the original process are wedded to it—consciously or not. You need fresh eyes. "When you actually look at 46 hours down to six hours, that's a more than 80% reduction. That is staggering. And now you can redeploy people for more important activities." ### AI Beyond ChatGPT: Transformational Gains Harris has seen AI move far beyond tools like ChatGPT. He's interviewed Demis Hassabis, founder of Google DeepMind and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize. "Why? PhD student..." Harris begins, hinting at the kind of breakthroughs that come from rethinking problems entirely. The lesson is clear: AI's real power isn't in tweaking what you already do. It's in reimagining what's possible. That's how you turn a 46-hour slog into a six-hour sprint—and free your team to focus on work that actually matters.