A pattern language
The Three Traps
Most stalled AI programs are not short of technology. They are caught in an old frame.
Definition
The Three Traps—Efficiency, Pilot and Control—are recurring patterns that keep AI activity from becoming organisational advantage.
The argument
Efficiency
Using AI only to accelerate existing work.
Pilot
Keeping useful experiments permanently separate from the operating model.
The model
Name the dominant trap, understand what it protects, then redesign the conditions that keep it in place.
Metaphor / example
A successful pilot can still leave the organisation unchanged when no owner, decision or path into normal work was designed from the start.
Leadership implication
Treat these as conversation signals, not labels. More than one can be present at once.
Common misunderstanding
The alternative is not inefficiency, endless experimentation or no governance. It is a wider definition of value, a path to practice and governance that builds judgement.
External evidence and interpretation
What the research shows—and what Mark reads into it.
Published finding
BCG’s 2026 release reports that by 2030, 42% of companies expect to give AI agents real decision-making authority, while only 5% have the controls in place to do so safely.
Boston Consulting Group — Applied AI Index 2026 (press release, 30 September 2026) ↗Mark’s interpretation
Mark reads this as a governance-capability gap: control without capability is the Control Trap. BCG does not use the Three Traps language.
Published finding
In a 2023 field experiment with 758 BCG consultants, GPT-4 improved speed and quality on tasks inside the AI’s capability frontier, but the authors describe a ‘jagged’ frontier where AI falls short on other tasks—so human judgement about when to rely on it matters.
Harvard Business School / D^3 Institute — Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier (HBS Working Paper 24-013, September 2023) ↗Mark’s interpretation
Efficiency alone is not a safe ambition: outside the frontier, judgement matters more than speed.
Control
Trying to remove uncertainty before people can explore within clear boundaries.
Questions people ask
Can an organisation be caught in more than one trap?+
Yes. Efficiency, Pilot and Control often reinforce each other. The diagnostic is a language for inquiry, not a scorecard or verdict.
Does avoiding the Control Trap mean less governance?+
No. It means combining clear boundaries with practical capability and feedback so people can exercise accountable judgement.
Sources
Boston Consulting Group — Applied AI Index 2026 (press release, 30 September 2026) ↗Harvard Business School / D^3 Institute — Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier (HBS Working Paper 24-013, September 2023) ↗Mark Cameron — AI profile ↗Research library →Bring it into the room
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