Middle Managers Are Now Being Tasked With Getting Workers to Use AI

Artificial intelligence adoption inside companies is no longer being treated as optional experimentation. Increasingly, it is becoming something employees are expected to demonstrate in measurable ways. 

According to reporting from Business Insider, managers at companies including JPMorgan Chase and The Walt Disney Company are now actively monitoring how workers use AI tools, tracking engagement through dashboards, internal reviews, and routine team check-ins. 

The shift reflects growing pressure across corporate America to prove that massive AI investments are translating into real productivity gains. Companies have spent the last two years rolling out tools powered by models from firms like Anthropic and OpenAI, but adoption inside workplaces has been uneven. 

A recent report from McKinsey & Company noted that while businesses continue increasing AI spending, “sustained impact on performance is elusive.” 

That pressure increasingly appears to be flowing downward through management structures. 

Business Insider reported that some managers at Disney have access to internal “AI Adoption Dashboards” showing employee usage of tools like Claude and Cursor. In one example cited by the publication, a manager reportedly contacted an engineer after noticing the employee had used an AI tool only once in 30 days.