---
id: "action-codevelop-ai-tools"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ A Credible Commitment"]
tags: ["workflow-design", "employee-engagement"]
related: ["concept-pilots-vs-passengers", "concept-workslop"]
speakers: ["Jan-Emmanuel De Neve", "Jeffrey T. Hancock", "Kate Niederhoffer"]
action: "Involve frontline workers in designing and routing AI tasks within their specific workflows."
outcome: "Transforms employees from passive 'passengers' into active 'pilots,' reducing the generation of 'workslop.'"
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-ext-19-augmentation-over-automation"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/why-companies-that-choose-ai-augmentation-over-automation-may-win-in-the-long-run"
sourceTitle: "Why Companies That Choose AI Augmentation Over Automation May Win in the Long Run"
---
# Co-develop AI Tools with Employees

**Action.** Involve **frontline employees** in designing how AI tools and business processes are integrated into their daily workflows — including *which tasks get routed to AI versus humans*. This ensures the technology actually improves how they work and signals that their expertise is valued.

**Why it works.** Participation is what converts [[concept-pilots-vs-passengers|passengers into pilots]]: it substitutes intrinsic uptake for top-down compliance, directly attacking the **workflow-integration lever** of [[framework-three-behavioral-levers]]. This is the practical response to [[question-routing-tasks-ai-vs-humans|the open question of which tasks to route to AI vs. humans]].

**Outcome.** Transforms employees from passive passengers into active pilots, reducing the generation of [[concept-workslop-d1|workslop]] ([[claim-forced-adoption-workslop]]).