Nigeria, June 17 -- At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, Deloitte vice chair China Widener argued that most companies misdiagnose their AI problem. The real obstacle isn't adoption, she said, but unlearning. Which is getting employees to abandon habits that have worked for years. She pointed to Deloitte research showing companies devote 93 percent of AI budgets to technology and only 7 percent to preparing their workforce.

Eric Vaughan, CEO of enterprise-software company IgniteTech, offered a more direct account. He said he laid off roughly 80 percent of his staff after a year of company-funded AI training failed to change their behavior. The company had dedicated one full day a week, equal to 20 percent of total payroll, for an e...