Read: New Bot on the Block: Why AI Needs an Onboarding Plan

There’s always a bit of disruption when a new kid shows up on the block. 

They have to find their place; learn the rhythms, social dynamics, and cultural norms of the neighborhood and then hope along the way they find a friend that invites them to the potluck. The same thing happens when a new person joins our team at work. The team, especially the manager, has to make space to help the newcomer understand ways of working, company culture, team dynamics, and expectations. It’s a familiar pattern we’ve all experienced, sometimes as the one joining the team, sometimes as the one welcoming the new team member. 

What happens when the familiar onboarding experience, built around human connection and community, is disrupted by a team member who isn’t human at all?

Generative AI is the new kid on the block and it’s already making waves across the neighborhood. As managers, leaders, employees, business owners, and consumers, we need to pay attention to how this new teammate will shape the human connections that already exist. According to Stanford University, 78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024, up from 55% in 2023, indicating AI’s increasing presence, but how we respond to it is what will make all the difference. Intentionally integrating AI as a teammate through a Human+AI+Human teaming model is what separates teams that adapt and thrive from those that resist change and lose momentum. 

Hot Take: AI is the newest member of the team 

Talking about AI as a member of the team makes its strengths and flaws easier to understand. It may be the fastest and most productive participant on the team, but it is far from perfect. Like any new teammate, AI comes with quirks, blind spots, and biases. But it is not human and doesn’t have values or feelings, and it will never sense the mood in a room or pick up on an unspoken cue.

Each person on our teams will build their own relationship with this new teammate, shaped by their role, their work, and their comfort with the technology. As teams begin to recognize this dynamic, they can make more thoughtful choices about where AI belongs, where it doesn’t, and how its output should be checked and trusted. That awareness and intentionality takes AI from an unknown disruption on the block to an approachable and contributing member of the neighborhood.

The key to successful integration is treating AI as a true team participant while recognizing its non-humaness and ensuring the actual humans remain at the heart of the experience. 

Research shows that “Despite the AI’s superior individual performance and the fact that bonuses were paid to the entire team if it performed well, 84% of respondents preferred to play with their human teammates” (When AI teammates come on board, performance drops, HBR). Human+AI+Human teams need to be bookended by human involvement, considerations, and experiences because people enjoy working with other people.

If organizations over rotate on AI replacing human dialogue, discovery, and decision making, they risk creating a disconnect between what technology can do and what people need. For example, when AI is used to assess team performance or recommend development actions without space for human interpretation, research indicates that people receiving AI advice in uncertain situations often over-rely it, even when it contradicts contextual information or their own judgement (Computers on Human Behavior).

This erodes mutual understanding and weakens the partnership between teams and technology, highlighting the need not only for AI literacy and trust calibration but also for thoughtful management of team dynamics. It underscores the importance of prioritizing human relationships and involving team members in deciding where and how AI should (and shouldn’t be) integrated.

A strategy that actively involves people in AI integration is far more effective than a top-down approach that breeds uncertainty and resistance. When employees help shape how AI is used, they build trust, autonomy, and shared ownership, laying the foundation for a true Human+AI+Human teaming culture.

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Prioritize the human experience 

When done thoughtfully and with human partnership at its core, Human+AI+Human teams integrate AI in a way that requires collaboration to be successful; the goal is not simply to enhance human or AI capabilities in isolation, the goal is synergy. Psychological safety must be established so team members feel able to question and challenge how AI is used. Trust across the team must be strong enough to support rapid adaptation when risks arise. Critical thinking, resilience, and moral reflection should be encouraged as ongoing practices. This creates the collaborative synergy of humans and AI to create stronger outputs than either could alone.

AI onboarding should be treated with the same intention as a new team member. This requires managers to:

• Clearly communicate expectations 
• Understand ways of working and communication preferences
• Identify strengths and weakness
• Recognize established skills vs project specific skills 
• Create space for feedback
• Make introductions to each person on the team

By thoughtfully integrating AI tools like we would any new team member, we create a culture of teaming that our people can contribute to and not feel a byproduct of. This mental model is useful for how we understand AI as a contributing and collaborative force to the team and must also be balanced with care for and attention to the people we’re integrating with. 

The real difference between teams that thrive with AI and those that falter lies in how intentionally they protect and nurture the human experience. Thinking of AI as a teammate can help us decide where it fits, but it will never grab coffee with a colleague, laugh at an inside joke, or rally the team through a tough sprint. Research out of MIT Media Lab this year found that “higher daily usage across all [chatbot] modalities and conversation types correlated with high loneliness, dependence, and problematic use, and lower socialization”. Turns out, not everything can be outsourced to AI, people need people.  Managers must create space for genuine human connection, because AI will not do it for us.

When AI takes on routine work and frees up time, that time should not simply disappear into more tasks. It is an invitation to reinvest in the human side of the team. Offsites, shared meals, spontaneous conversations, and in-person meetups are not “nice-to-haves.” They are how trust is built, culture is shaped, and resilience is sustained. In a moment defined by technical upheaval, these moments of connection become the glue that holds teams - and people - together.

Prepare for the future of Human+AI+Human teaming 

As AI becomes more deeply woven into the fabric of teams and organizations, the conversations around it will grow more complex. Questions about ethics, environmental impact, trust, and alignment won’t go away. They will get sharper and more urgent. Leaders cannot sit on the sidelines for these discussions. Partnering with organizations like Thoughtium can help frame the right questions, shape thoughtful strategies, and fully participate in steering teams through this change.

Many organizations have sprinted to integrate AI at record speed, often skipping over the people who are actually doing and experiencing the integration. When that happens, teams are left with confusion, resistance, and disengagement. The promise of AI is real, but it only comes to life when the humans on our teams feel included, heard, and empowered.

The new bot on the block is here to stay. The question is: will you welcome it thoughtfully, or let it disrupt the neighborhood?

As a leader, you have the chance to slow the race, create the space for meaningful conversations, and invite your team to shape how AI fits into their work and lives. Lead with a human-centered strategy that balances technical capability with genuine human connection. If you are ready to take that step, Thoughtium is here to help you navigate Human+AI+Human teaming with clarity, curiosity, and heart.