Capturing the benefits of AI is critical.

But organizations can’t just focus on technology. It’s equally important to evolve your culture — and use AI not to replace people, but to empower them.

Cisco is a leader in AI, both in building the critical infrastructure and security for the AI era and in transforming its own workforce. Along the way, AI is impacting everything from the company’s coding and product design to HR and marketing.

To learn more, we spoke with some of the leaders behind Cisco’s AI revolution. They shared their thoughts on managing rapid change, educating a global workforce, and shifting perceptions of AI from sci-fi, job-stealing villain to trusted advisor.

“AI will reshape work and the workforce, just as every major technological shift has before,” said Mary de Wysocki, Cisco's SVP and chief learning & future readiness officer. “This isn’t simply a technology transformation — it’s a workforce transformation. The organizations and economies that thrive will be those that invest in people with the same urgency they invest in technology. That means expanding access to skills, creating a culture of continuous learning, and working across business, education, and government to prepare more people for what’s next.”

Fran Katsoudas, Cisco’s EVP and people, policy & purpose officer, picked on the theme, stressing that AI should be about raising people up and enabling them to do their best work.

“At Cisco, we see AI as a team sport,” she said. “If we do it right, we don’t lose connection. Instead, we elevate what is deeply human about work.”

Doing it right is essential even in a leading-edge tech company like Cisco, where AI transformation has not been without misgivings. After all, AI represents a massive technology and societal shift, and change is never easy.

“A big part of addressing anxiety is building a culture of trust and transparency,” said Marci Paino, Cisco’s chief learning officer. “That means being clear with our workforce about how we plan to use the data we collect, and what we expect of employees as they learn to use AI in their roles.”

That also includes clearly defined expectations for AI itself — not to replace humans but to work with them.

"We believe this technology will fundamentally redefine roles and jobs, but the need for humans to be in the lead isn't going away," Paino emphasized. "Continuous reinforcement from our leaders is important not only to guide people through change but to ensure the ethical, responsible, and secure adoption of AI."

A focus on agility amid rapid change.

As Cisco’s SVP and chief innovation officer Guy Diedrich stressed, the pace of change has accelerated to unprecedented levels. AI is all about giving people an edge in meeting those demands.

“The better way of saying AI-first, would be saying agile-first,” he said, “because that's what you're going to have to be as an organization moving forward. You're going to have to be incredibly agile because we've never seen technology move at a pace of innovation like we're seeing now.”

Of course, the potential benefits are what drive the rush to invest in AI.

“AI agents aren't just making existing work faster; they're a new workforce of co-workers that dramatically expand what organizations can accomplish,” said Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco. “Projects shelved for lack of resources are now within reach. The only limit is imagination.”

Which is to say that human judgment, innovation, and imagination are still at the heart of work — even, if not especially, in the AI era.

“Cisco has really focused on the power of partnership with AI and leveraging AI as a force multiplier to make us all better,” said Austin Roth-Eagle, who oversees the AI Acceleration Office for Cisco Global Communications. “So, we're building AI systems with human oversight at the forefront.”

As Roth-Eagle emphasizes, those uniquely human attributes like inventiveness and taste must stay front and center.

“The goal is not to build AI systems that don't require humans,” he said. “The goal is to build AI systems that maximize our productivity and impact. Deep domain expertise — and knowing what good looks like, what mediocre looks like, what bad looks like — is as much a differentiator as AI fluency itself. The folks who are accelerating figure out how to use AI to 10x their already strong industry-vertical expertise.”

Mixing education with exploration and fun

Of course, supporting that AI fluency is still a top priority.

Cisco has rolled out a range of learning programs, from foundational AI literacy courses tailored to specific roles to live learning labs where employees can apply new skills to real-world challenges. These programs combine the expertise of learning experts with input from domain specialists and, yes, AI itself, ensuring the curricula stays highly relevant and aligned with Cisco's business objectives, ethical standards, and operational needs. In addition to such internally built learning modules, third-party courses are available.

At the same time, simply enabling people time to experiment, explore, and play with AI is among the most effective strategies. As Paino explained, freedom is built into the workday. And valuable ideas arise from it.

“We encourage folks to just form that daily AI habit,” she said, “whether it's planning dinner or reinventing their workflow. Experiment with different opportunities and have that mindset of, how can I improve this process? How can I elevate the quality of the final output? That experimentation is what eventually leads to real-world use cases.”

The fine art of pushing AI boundaries

Speaking of taste and creativity, a great example of human/AI collaboration is Echo, an interactive, immersive exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale.

Gianpaolo Barozzi is Cisco’s VP and chief technology officer for people, policy & purpose. He came up with the basic idea for Echo and put together a unique mix of artists, engineers, and AI agents. Each played a crucial role in creating the final experience.

“The result could not have been achieved by developers only and could not have been achieved by artists only,” said Barozzi. “And it couldn't be achieved by AI only.”

It’s a project that Barozzi feels has deep implications for how humans and AI will collaborate in the workplace.

“It shows how Cisco is at the leading edge of AI application,” he said. “But it’s also helping to define the place of humans in the future of work.”

Cisco also developed Circuit, the company’s internal AI assistant. It’s an option that may not be open to all organizations, but it offers clear advantages in terms of protecting critical information and sharing ideas unique to Cisco. In addition to Cisco’s proprietary AI models, the platform integrates external models such as Claude, ChatGPt, and Gemini. And it routes requests to the best -available AI model for each specific use case.

“I think Circuit has been a game changer for Cisco,” said Roth-Eagle. “Obviously from a security perspective, keeping data behind the Cisco firewall is huge. But Circuit is an incredibly capable tool.”

For many at Cisco, it’s an integral element in productivity, creativity, and problem solving.

“It’s a brainstorming partner,” said Paino. “And it can point out your blind spots and improve the quality of your work. A lot of companies are very focused on AI's use in productivity. I actually see the quality piece as even more important. We can produce better work and higher-quality customer experiences by leveraging this.”

No matter how powerful the technology, Katsoudas believes work must always remain human centric.

“Our goal is not to replace human potential with AI, but to unlock more of it,” she said. “That requires clear guardrails, responsible leadership, and a culture where people have the confidence to meet this moment with curiosity and purpose.”