Chris Willis has a blunt message for the people running the AI industry these days: slow down. The chief design officer and in-house futurist at Domo — a Utah-based data platform company — spent a week in San Francisco recently and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. The city that’s home to OpenAI and Anthropic is buzzing with AI enthusiasm, but Willis said the vibe on the ground feels more anxious than excited. Workers from the C-suite to the cubicle aren’t thrilled about being told the clock is ticking on their careers because of AI. It’s not the public revolt you’d expect after a tech gold rush, but the resentment is real — even if it’s quiet so far.

Willis told The Register he’s baffled by the lack of outrage. “Why aren’t people more resentful that these companies have pushed this technology upon them and now everyone is feeling a tremendous amount of anxiety?” he said. His comments come as AI startups and tech giants alike have spent the last two years racing to put AI tools in every corner of business. The problem, according to Willis, isn’t the tech itself — it’s the speed at which it’s being shoved into workplaces without proper guardrails or buy-in. “Everyone from the C-suite on down feels like their careers are on the line,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s sustainable.”

The quiet frustration under Silicon Valley’s AI glow

San Francisco’s tech scene is famous for its hype cycles. Right now, AI is the star of every conference, podcast, and LinkedIn post. But behind the polished keynotes and polished demo videos, there’s a growing sense of dread. Willis isn’t alone in noticing it. In the past six months, surveys from firms like McKinsey and Gartner have shown that over 85% of executives now feel pressured to adopt AI or risk falling behind. Yet, most admit they don’t fully understand how to use it safely or ethically. The result? A workforce that feels trapped between the fear of missing out and the fear of getting it wrong.

Willis isn’t arguing against AI. He’s arguing against the way it’s being rolled out. “We’re treating AI like a sprint when it should be a marathon,” he said. “The technology isn’t going to wait for us to catch up. But if we don’t slow down and build real trust with the people who have to use it every day, we’re going to face a backlash that makes the social media backlash look tame.” His comments echo concerns raised by other tech leaders, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who has warned that AI adoption needs guardrails to avoid repeating the mistakes of past tech booms.

The career anxiety problem isn’t just hype

The anxiety isn’t theoretical. In the past year, Willis said he’s talked to dozens of executives who admit they’re losing sleep over AI. One CFO told him, “I don’t know if my job will exist in five years because of AI.” A mid-level manager in a Fortune 500 company said, “I’m terrified my team will be replaced by a chatbot I don’t understand.” These aren’t outliers. Willis pointed to a Gartner study from last month showing that 62% of managers feel unprepared for AI-driven changes in their roles. The pressure isn’t just coming from outside their companies. It’s coming from their own boards, investors, and even their kids, who’ve grown up with AI as a given.

What’s striking is how little of this anxiety is visible in public. There are no protests outside OpenAI’s headquarters. No viral hashtags calling for a boycott of AI tools. The resentment is simmering, not boiling over. Willis thinks that’s because most people still believe AI is inevitable — and fighting it feels like fighting progress. But he warns that could change fast. “Right now, people are too scared to speak up,” he said. “But if the first wave of AI projects fail — and they will — that’s when the real pushback starts.”

A call to hit pause — or at least slow down

Willis isn’t calling for a moratorium on AI. He’s calling for a reality check. “We need to stop acting like this is a race,” he said. “The companies that win won’t be the ones that deploy AI the fastest. They’ll be the ones that deploy it the smartest.” His advice? Slow down the adoption cycle. Invest in training. Build ethical frameworks before scaling. And most importantly, listen to the people who’ll actually have to use the tools every day.

Some might call this naive. After all, Silicon Valley thrives on speed. But Willis points to Domo’s own approach as proof that restraint can work. The company has spent years building a data platform designed to augment human work — not replace it. “We didn’t go all-in on AI overnight,” he said. “We tested it, we measured it, and we trained people on it. And we’re still not done.”

The question now is whether the rest of Silicon Valley will listen. With billions in venture capital still pouring into AI startups, the pressure to move fast isn’t going away. But if Willis is right, the companies that ignore his warning might find themselves facing a workforce that’s done waiting for the future to catch up.

What You Need to Know

  • Source: The Register
  • Published: May 17, 2026 at 14:00 UTC
  • Category: Technology
  • Topics: #theregister · #tech · #enterprise · #openai · #enough

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Curated by GlobalBR News · May 17, 2026

🇧🇷 Resumo em Português

O Brasil, que já foi palco de uma das maiores revoluções digitais da América Latina com a ascensão do Pix e do open banking, agora enfrenta um novo debate: a corrida desenfreada pela inteligência artificial está gerando mais ansiedade do que inovação. Em um alerta contundente, Chris Willis, diretor de design da Domo, uma das maiores plataformas de dados do mundo, afirmou que as empresas de tecnologia estão avançando rápido demais com a IA, ignorando os riscos de uma implementação precipitada que pode deixar usuários e profissionais insatisfeitos — e até arrependidos.

Willis, que já atuou com gigantes como Microsoft e Oracle, argumenta que a pressa em lançar soluções de IA sem uma reflexão profunda sobre ética, transparência e impacto social está criando um ambiente de desconfiança. No Brasil, onde a transformação digital ainda enfrenta desafios como a desigualdade de acesso à internet e a falta de regulamentação específica para IA, a advertência ganha peso. Aqui, a implementação acelerada de ferramentas de inteligência artificial pode agravar problemas como desemprego tecnológico em setores tradicionais e vieses algorítmicos que reforçam preconceitos históricos — especialmente em um país com uma das maiores desigualdades do mundo.

Se a lição não for aprendida, o Brasil poderá repetir os erros globais, com sistemas de IA que prometem revolução, mas entregam apenas frustração.

🇪🇸 Resumen en Español

La inteligencia artificial avanza a un ritmo desenfrenado, pero sus líderes advierten que la prisa puede ser contraproducente. Chris Willis, director de diseño de Domo, acusa a las principales empresas del sector de impulsar esta tecnología sin suficiente reflexión, generando más ansiedad que beneficios reales.

Willis argumenta que, aunque la IA promete revolucionar múltiples sectores, su implementación apresurada está generando desconfianza entre usuarios y empleados. Según él, el enfoque actual prioriza la velocidad sobre la ética y la adaptación humana, lo que podría llevar a rechazos masivos y pérdida de credibilidad. Para los hispanohablantes, este debate subraya la importancia de exigir transparencia y regulación en el desarrollo tecnológico, especialmente en un mercado donde la innovación suele ir por delante de las garantías sociales.