Workers’ Tacit Knowledge Emerges as Key Battleground in Corporate AI Push

Companies seeking to embed generative AI in daily operations cannot rely solely on general-purpose large language models. They also need workers to supply proprietary processes, judgment and domain expertise — the tacit knowledge rarely captured in manuals or databases. That dependence makes employees central to model customization and accuracy, while raising questions over who controls the expertise that gives organizations and individual workers their competitive value.

The latest report says efforts to fine-tune models and build internal AI tools are becoming a workplace power struggle. Employees may fear that transferring their expertise to software will weaken their autonomy, bargaining leverage or job security. The report identified no specific companies, investment amounts, dates or quantitative targets, but highlighted trust, limits on knowledge use and labor-management communication as increasingly important factors in determining whether corporate AI deployments succeed.