AI writes the tagline your junior copywriter used to write. AI generates the concept art your freelance illustrator used to sketch. AI drafts the report your first-year analyst used to draft. Every one of those tasks moves faster now, but business ethics are struggling to keep pace.

Jerod Brennen has spent 25 years advising leaders on what organizations build, buy, and cut. He’s watched companies adopt AI to save money without asking who earns money today for the work AI now does. He’s also watched leaders build AI adoption plans protecting margin and people at the same time.

In this talk, Jerod asks the questions leaders skip before a new AI tool ships. Whose job does this task replace? What do you owe the person who loses the income? What version of AI adoption still gives your newest hire a way in? You'll leave with a framework for saying yes to AI without saying no to the people who built your business.

The businesses that adopt AI ethically will out-hire, out-train, and outlast the ones that don't.

Originally presented at the Ohio State University's inaugural Institute for Cybersecurity and Digital Trust Annual Cybersecurity Symposium (2026).