At Rise, a lot of our client conversations about AI circle back to the same themes: excitement about potential, concern about disruption and uncertainty about how to bring people along.
Those tensions aren’t new. In fact, they echo a phenomenon from more than 200 years ago: the story of the Luddites.
Many people are familiar with the term “Luddite” referring to someone who is “anti-technology,” but the origin story is actually a lot more nuanced. Luddites were a contingent of skilled textile workers facing a wave of automation in England. Their resistance holds some surprising lessons for leaders navigating today’s AI transformation.
Job security wasn’t the only issue
The popular image of Luddites is workers smashing weaving looms out of fear for their jobs. But their concerns ran deeper: loss of wages, displacement of skilled craft and the pace at which change was imposed.
Similarly, when employees raise alarms about AI, it’s not just about roles being automated. It’s about whether they’ll still be able to make meaningful, valued contributions — and making sure they have a role in the industry’s future, even if that role changes.
Craft versus scale
The way Luddite textile workers saw it, overreliance on machines risked lowering the quality of goods. Their work had cultural and aesthetic value, not just output, which required some level of human involvement. Today, teams worry that AI may flatten creativity, dilute brand voice or replace judgment with generic output.
The takeaway: AI should amplify human strengths, not wash them out.
Technology without safeguards
The Luddites distrusted the way technology was being deployed, without guardrails or shared benefits, not technology itself. In the AI era, this maps directly onto concerns about transparency, bias and governance.
The lesson is clear: Adoption without trust is fragile.
Feedback was ignored until it was too late
In the age of the Luddites, factory owners rarely engaged workers regarding how automation was introduced. They also often deployed machinery in ways that workers perceived as being unethical. The result was open revolt.
Organizations rolling out AI today face a similar risk if they treat it as a top-down implementation. Building feedback loops early and adjusting course as needed can prevent resistance from turning into roadblocks.
Transformation means transition
History shows that, after decades of reform and social realignment, many workers eventually adapted to new roles, often in overseeing or maintaining machines.
The future of AI won’t eliminate human contribution; it will redefine it. Leaders who map those transitions and invest in reskilling will shape smoother, faster adoption.
Why this matters now
When we talk to clients about AI, we remind them that transformation is never just about the technology. It’s about trust, capability and culture.
The Luddites weren’t simply railing against progress. They were drawing attention to the very human costs of rapid change — and those signals are still relevant.
Handled well, AI doesn’t have to repeat the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution. Handled poorly, it might.
Want to learn more and continue the conversation? Rise wants to hear from you.
