Airtable CEO Howie Liu is taking an unconventional approach to AI adoption, actively encouraging his 700+ employees to cancel regular work commitments and dedicate entire days—or even weeks—to experimenting with artificial intelligence tools. The directive represents a bold departure from traditional workplace expectations as tech companies scramble to integrate AI into their operations.
“If you want to cancel all your meetings for a day or for an entire week and just go play around with every AI product that you think could be relevant to Airtable, go do it. Period,” Liu stated during a recent appearance on Lenny’s Podcast. The 36-year-old cofounder emphasised that “play” and “experimentation” are the most crucial elements for AI mastery.
CEO models “Wasteful” AI usage to drive company innovation
Liu practices what he preaches, claiming to be the “No. 1 most expensive in inference-cost user of Airtable AI” globally across all customers. He describes his AI usage as “extremely, intentionally wasteful,” spending hundreds of dollars on inference costs to generate insights from sales call transcripts. “Hundreds of dollars spent on this exercise is trivial compared to the potential strategic value of having better insights,” Liu explained, noting that such analysis would typically cost millions through consulting firms.
This approach mirrors broader industry trends where tech leaders are mandating AI proficiency. Google and Microsoft executives have warned employees that AI adoption is no longer optional for career advancement, with both companies now incorporating AI usage into performance evaluations.
Silicon Valley embraces AI; some are being serious while others are trying to make it fun
The push for AI integration extends across Silicon Valley, including its biggest players. Microsoft’s Julia Liuson declared that “using AI is no longer optional—it’s core to every role and every level,” while Google CEO Sundar Pichai urged employees to “be more AI-savvy” during company meetings. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has instructed teams to learn AI tools for creating “scrappier teams,” and Shopify now requires departments to demonstrate AI usage before requesting additional resources.
Duolingo that is also pushing employees towards AI literacy, but has implemented similar strategies to that of Airtable CEO through weekly “f-r-A-I-days,” where teams experiment with AI efficiency improvements every Friday morning. The language learning platform’s CEO Luis von Ahn told The New York Times that these sessions help teams discover new AI applications.
Airtable, valued at nearly $12 billion in 2021, relaunched as an “AI-native app platform” in June, positioning itself in what Liu calls the “killer application of AI”—vibe coding platforms that make AI work scalable beyond simple chat interactions.