The Weds.AI Initiative: How We Built AI Culture

In mid-2023, I had a company full of people who had heard about AI but weren’t using it. Optional lunch-and-learns weren’t working. Reading lists weren’t working. So I created Weds.ai - and it changed everything.

The Format

Every Wednesday: 4 hours of building on real projects, followed by 1 hour of demos. Not theoretical exercises. Not tutorials. Real work on real business problems using AI tools.

The rules:

• Attendance is mandatory
• You work on actual company problems, not side projects
• You must demo what you built
• Video stays on (no hiding)
• Minimum 10% of your work week goes to AI work

Why the Demo Matters Most

The demo hour is the engine of the whole system. It creates:

Accountability. When you know you have to show your work, you actually do the work. There’s no hiding room when the whole company is watching.

Competition. Not cutthroat competition, but healthy “I want to try that too” competition. When someone demos an AI workflow that saves 3 hours per week, everyone wants their own version.

Exposure. Most people don’t know what’s possible with AI until they see a peer doing it. The demo breaks through the imagination barrier. “If Maria from accounting can build an AI pipeline, so can I.”

Implementation Details

Keep sessions tight. Under 50 people per session works best. If your company is larger, run multiple sessions.

Run cross-functional showcases quarterly. This keeps the whole company connected and prevents silos from forming around AI use cases.

Don’t accept “I’m too busy” as an excuse. If AI is a priority, it gets time on the calendar. Period.

Results After 12 Months

• Every employee uses AI tools daily (not occasionally - daily)
• Internal AI project count: 40+ launched
• Employee satisfaction with AI tools: high across the board
• Time saved per employee: estimated 5-10 hours per week
• Culture shift: from “AI is coming” to “AI is how we work”

Launching Your Own Version

You don’t need to call it Weds.ai. You need:

1. A recurring, blocked calendar slot (weekly minimum)
2. Real business problems to solve
3. Mandatory demos
4. CEO attendance and participation
5. Zero tolerance for “I’ll start next week”

The hardest part is the first month. After that, momentum takes over. People start bringing their own ideas. They start using AI outside of the scheduled sessions. That’s when you know it’s working.