The “Last Mile” Problem Slowing AI Transformation

by Karim R. Lakhani, Jared Spataro and Jen Stave

March 9, 2026

Illustration by Andrea Cobb

Summary.

Executives are increasingly enamored with the promise of an AI-driven transformation and have invested accordingly. Most large-scale companies have initiated hundreds of pilots and provided widespread access to tools like Copilot and ChatGPT.

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the chair and a cofounder of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard University. He is a coauthor of Competing in the Age of AI (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).

Jared Spataro leads Microsoft’s AI at Work efforts, helping every organization leverage AI and agents to solve their unique business problems, reduce costs, and drive net-new value creation. His team conducts research to help predict and shape what the future of work and business will look like across industries, while also delivering new products and features within Copilot, Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform.

Jen Stave is the Inaugural Director of the Digital, Data & Design Institute at Harvard, where she leads the university’s primary engine for investigating the impact of generative AI on business and society. Her work sits at the intersection of data, AI, change management, workforce transformation, and organizational effectiveness and her perspectives on the future of digital labor are featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. She has served on the steering committee for the United Nations’ AI for Good program and is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review.

Read more on Organizational transformation or related topics AI and machine learning, Organizational learning, Organizational development, Talent management and Business management

The “Last Mile” Problem Slowing AI Transformation

Summary.

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