From Pilots to Copilots

Three days ago an enterprise product with contractual data terms became available, which changes the procurement conversation and leaves the evidence where it was. Most large organisations now hold a collection of pilots that were never designed to be compared with one another, and a growing expectation from their boards that something should be scaled. This paper sets out how to convert that collection into a governed portfolio. It proposes five stage gates, a reference architecture for an assisted workflow, a balanced value scorecard and an explicit scale, hold or stop decision with written thresholds. The design principle throughout is that scale is a portfolio decision supported by evidence, and a compelling demonstration is not evidence. A worker-centred section sits in the middle, where it can affect the design. The available international evidence on artificial intelligence in workplaces reports both improved job quality and material concern, from a survey conducted before these systems existed in their current form. Used carefully, it supports an argument about consultation and task redesign. Used as evidence about copilots, it supports nothing at all.