How to Become the AI Person on Your Team

Every team is about to have an "AI person." The colleague who knows how to use the tools, who people go to with questions, who gets pulled into projects because they can make AI do useful things.

That person gets to keep their job during restructuring. Just saying.

Right now, in most teams, that role is unclaimed. Nobody has grabbed it yet because everyone is either too scared, too busy, or too cool to be the one messing around with ChatGPT at their desk. Which means there's an opening. And it's yours if you want it.

i'm not talking about becoming a machine learning engineer. I'm talking about becoming the person who actually uses these tools to get real work done, and who can show others how. It's a much lower bar than you think.

Why "the AI person" matters

In every restructuring i've worked on as a consultant, there's a moment where leadership asks: "Who in this department understands AI?" The people whose names come up in response to that question are dramatically less likely to be made redundant. It's not a guarantee. But it's significant.

Companies don't want to fire the people who represent their future capabilities. They want to fire the people who represent their past capabilities. Harsh, but true.

Being "the AI person" doesn't mean you need a degree in computer science. It means you need to be visibly, demonstrably using AI tools to do your actual job better. That's it. The bar is on the floor and most people still haven't stepped over it.

Step 1: Actually use the tools

This sounds obvious. It is obvious. And yet.

Pick one AI tool and use it for real work, every day, for two weeks. Not as a toy. Not to write poems or generate funny images. For actual work tasks.

Here are some things you can do right now with freely available tools:

• Draft emails and communications faster
• Summarise long documents, reports, or meeting notes
• Create first drafts of presentations
• Analyse spreadsheet data and spot patterns
• Research topics and get up to speed on new areas quickly
• Proofread and improve your writing
• Create templates and checklists from scratch

None of this requires technical skills. It requires typing questions into a chat box and then critically evaluating what comes back. If you can write an email, you can use these tools.

The key is daily use. Not "I tried it once." Daily use. Because that's how you actually learn what it's good at, what it's rubbish at, and where it fits into your workflow.

Step 2: Solve a real problem visibly

Once you've been using AI tools for a couple of weeks and you've found something genuinely useful, do it where people can see.

This is not about showing off. It's about creating evidence.

Next time you're in a meeting and someone says "we need to analyse this data" or "can someone draft a proposal for this," volunteer. Then use AI to help you do it faster and better than expected. When people ask how you did it so quickly, tell them. "I used Claude to help me structure the analysis." "I used ChatGPT to draft the first version and then I edited it."

Be specific. Be casual about it. Don't make it a big announcement. Just fold it into how you work and let people notice.

One person i worked with did this by using AI to create a weekly market summary that used to take her half a day. She got it down to 45 minutes. Her manager noticed. Her manager's manager noticed. When restructuring happened, she was the one asked to train the rest of the team on AI tools. She's still employed. The two people in her team who weren't using AI tools aren't.

Step 3: Help one colleague

This is where it shifts from personal skill to team value.

Find one colleague who's struggling with something AI could help with. Sit with them for 20 minutes and show them. Not in a "let me teach you" way. In a "have you tried this?" way. Help them solve their specific problem with a specific tool.

When you help someone else, two things happen. First, they tell people. "Sarah showed me this AI thing and it saved me hours." That reputation spreads. Second, you become the person people come to. You become embedded in the team's AI capability. You become harder to make redundant because you're the person everyone depends on for this stuff.

Don't try to help everyone at once. Help one person. Then another. Word spreads organically.

Step 4: Document what you've done

Keep a simple log of how you've used AI at work. Nothing fancy. A note on your phone or a document somewhere. Date, task, tool used, result.

"14 March: Used Claude to analyse customer feedback data. Found three themes in 20 minutes that would have taken a day manually."

"18 March: Used ChatGPT to draft the quarterly report template. Manager approved it with minor changes."

This log has two purposes. First, it's evidence for your performance reviews and your CV. Second, if restructuring happens and you need to argue your case during consultation, you have specific, dated examples of how you've used AI to add value. That's powerful.

Step 5: Build something small

This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that separates "uses AI tools" from "the AI person."

Build a small AI project. It doesn't have to be complicated. A chatbot that answers FAQs about your department's processes. An automated workflow that saves the team time on a repetitive task. A template system that generates first drafts of common documents.

Something you can demo in 5 minutes. Something that makes people go "oh, that's actually useful." Something that has your name on it.

This is your calling card. When someone asks "who knows about AI in this department?" your colleagues will say your name because they've seen the thing you built.

The stuff you don't need to do

You don't need to:

• Learn to code (though it helps)
• Understand how neural networks work
• Read AI research papers
• Take a six-month course
• Get a certification
• Know the difference between GPT-4 and Claude (though you should probably understand what AI literacy actually is)

You need to use the tools, do useful things with them, and make sure people know about it. That's the whole strategy.

The timing is everything

Right now, most people in most companies are not doing this. Which means if you start today, you're ahead of 80% of your colleagues. In six months, that percentage will be lower. In a year, it might be expected rather than exceptional.

The window where being "the AI person" is a differentiator is open right now. It won't stay open forever. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is today. (That's the only motivational-sounding thing I'll say, and i'm mildly disgusted at myself for it.)

Start showing these skills publicly too. Not just at work but in your professional profile. Because if restructuring does happen, your next employer will be looking for exactly these skills.

The one thing to do today: open ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever AI tool you have access to, and use it for a real work task. Not a test. A real task. Then do the same thing tomorrow. That's it. That's how it starts.