The Untapped Force in Enterprise AI: Citizen Developers, Literacy & Trust
What We're Missing in the AI Conversation
We've all seen the slide decks.
AI is going to change everything. It's the future of work. It's embedded in everything from productivity tools to customer interactions to financial forecasting. But for all the excitement, there's one thing most enterprise AI roadmaps miss — and it's a big one:
How do we get more of our people — not just our data scientists — involved in the AI journey, responsibly and at scale?
The answer lies in a group often overlooked but increasingly essential: citizen developers.
These are the product managers, ops analysts, marketers, and business users already solving problems every day — and now equipped with tools like Power Platform, Azure AI, or OpenAI APIs that let them build smarter solutions, faster.
But here's the problem: just giving people access to AI tools isn't enough.
If we want enterprise AI to actually scale and deliver value, we need to enable these innovators with literacy, community, and governance. Without that, we're not just slowing down innovation — we're opening ourselves up to risk, bias, and fragmentation.
AI Literacy: The Real Missing Layer
Let's be honest: most AI training today is either too technical, too abstract, or too focused on "how the model works" instead of "how this solves my business problem."
We need a new kind of literacy.
One that helps non-technical professionals:
  • Understand what AI can and shouldn't do
  • Frame use cases in a way that translates to value
  • Apply ethical and governance principles in context
  • Collaborate with data teams without slowing things down
This isn't a nice-to-have — it's an enterprise-wide imperative. IBM recently called it "a core skill for the future of work." And they're right. Because the value of AI isn't just in the model. It's in the people who know when, where, and how to use it effectively.
Governance Is Not a Bottleneck — It's a Trust Accelerator
Some leaders hear "governance" and think bureaucracy. But when done right, governance is the enabler of trust.
And trust is what will make or break enterprise AI.
The most forward-looking organizations are now embedding responsible AI frameworks — from Microsoft's Responsible AI Standard to tools like Fairlearn, Explainability360, and real-time audit layers — directly into their citizen developer workflows.
Why? Because if you want business users to build AI apps, automate decisions, and scale experiments, they need to know the guardrails, not guess them.
You don't need heavy compliance overhead to make that happen. What you need is:
  • Lightweight guidance
  • Embedded ethical prompts
  • Impact simulations
  • Continuous feedback loops
That's how you make governance a growth layer, not a slowdown.
Lightweight Guidance
Clear, accessible guidelines that don't overwhelm users
Embedded Ethical Prompts
Built-in reminders about responsible AI usage
Impact Simulations
Tools to preview potential outcomes before deployment
Continuous Feedback
Systems that learn and improve from real-world usage
We've Done This Before — Just Not With AI
If this all sounds familiar, it should. We've seen this playbook work:
  • With the rise of business intelligence, when we taught non-analysts to build dashboards
  • With cloud adoption, when dev teams stopped waiting for IT to deploy infrastructure
  • With design thinking, when we brought product teams and customers into the innovation process
Now it's AI's turn.
The companies that win won't be the ones with the most advanced models — they'll be the ones that build AI fluency and trust into their culture.
Business Intelligence
Non-analysts learned to build dashboards
Cloud Adoption
Dev teams deployed without waiting for IT
Design Thinking
Product teams and customers joined innovation
AI Integration
Building AI fluency across the organization
Where Do We Start?
Start with a clear mission: enable people, protect value, and build trust into every step.
What that looks like practically:
Build internal learning tracks tailored for roles (not just coders)
Create customized AI education pathways for different business functions
Create use-case starter kits across business functions
Provide templates and examples that address specific departmental needs
Embed governance touchpoints into low-code tools
Integrate compliance checks directly into the development workflow
Launch community chapters to keep knowledge flowing across teams
Foster cross-functional collaboration and shared learning
And most importantly: make AI a team sport — not just a data team project.
Final Word
AI isn't the next project. It's the next platform. And if you're not designing your organization to scale trust, literacy, and experimentation — you're going to struggle, no matter how good your tools are.
It's time to activate the untapped potential inside your workforce. Not just to move faster — but to move forward with purpose.

Experimentation
Encouraging innovation
Literacy
Building knowledge
Trust
Creating foundation
About the Author
Ed Fassio is a digital transformation strategist and AI ecosystem architect with a passion for human-centered innovation. As Principal Account Manager at Aditi Consulting, he partners with enterprise clients to drive AI adoption and business transformation. He is also the Founder and Chief Strategist at ByteBrain.org, an AI enablement venture advancing education, community, and ethical integration. Ed’s experience spans leadership roles at Microsoft, TCS, Adobe, Apple, and IBM’s Neudesic, and he also teaches AI literacy and strategy through Purdue University’s executive programs.
Appendix: Sources & References
  1. MIT Sloan Management Review How AI-Empowered Citizen Developers Help Drive Digital Transformation https://mitsloan.mit.edu
  1. IBM Insights What Is AI Literacy and Why Does It Matter? https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/ai-literacy
  1. Zenity Blog Empowering Governance in AI-Driven Citizen Development https://www.zenity.io/blog
  1. DataCamp for Business AI Literacy Learning Paths https://www.datacamp.com/business/ai-literacy
  1. Colgate-Palmolive Case Building AI Literacy at Scale https://www.linkedin.com
  1. LinkedIn Thought Leadership Democratizing AI in Financial Services https://www.linkedin.com