Airtable CEO Howie Liu has told staff they have the 'ultimate excuse' to take time away from their normal work
The chief executive officer of a tech company is permitting employees to take time off so they can experiment with artificial intelligence tools.
Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable, told Lenny's Podcast that he's encouraging employees to "play" with AI products by giving them time away.
"I've even said: 'look, if anyone wants to just literally block out a day or frankly even a week and have the ultimate excuse… you could say that I told you to do it,'" he told the podcast.
"Like if you want to cancel all your meetings for like a day or for an entire week and just go play around with every AI product that you can find that you think could be relevant to Airtable, go do it."
Liu made the remarks as he underscored the importance of experimenting with AI tools without making it feel like it's part of a company mandate.
"When I say play, I really mean play like in the psychological sense of like — there's a difference when you go in and you're kind of just trying to check the box and like get a job done, right?" he said.
"There's a difference when you come in with a curiosity. You're kind of like exploring, right? And it's both more fun and energising, but also I think you learn more through that."
AI use in workplaces
Receiving training related to AI has become a necessity for many organisations amid the technology's widespread penetration in workplaces.
However, findings across the world indicate that training on AI has yet to catch up with its implementation.
In Canada, KPMG found that 53% of business leaders don't think they're investing enough in training and learning opportunities for AI.
In the US and UK, findings from General Assembly found that only 30% of HR professionals had received comprehensive job-specific training on AI.
Another 26% said they did not get any formal training at all, despite 82% of the report's respondents saying they are now using AI as part of their day-to-day work.
The lack of training comes as organisations struggle in finding talent who are skilled with AI tools. Data from Bain & Company earlier this year revealed that AI-related job postings have surged by 21% annually since 2019, with compensation for such roles increasing 11% in the same period.
But the number of qualified candidates is falling short, according to the report, with the supply of such talent only reaching less than 645,000 in the next two years in the US.
Sarah Elk, Americas head of AI, Insights, and Solutions at Bain & Company, previously noted that executives see the AI talent gap as a major roadblock to innovation.
"Companies navigating this increasingly competitive hiring landscape need to take action now, upskilling existing teams, expanding hiring strategies, and rethinking ways to attract and retain AI talent," Elk said in a previous statement.
