The Challenge
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is one of the world's largest scientific societies, and its Publications Division plays a critical role in advancing scientific communication. Like many organizations, the division was seeing growing enthusiasm for generative AI among its teams, as well as frequent use of unsanctioned tools. The challenge wasn't interest—it was infrastructure and process.
There was no established framework for how AI tools could be used responsibly, who should have access to what, or how adoption would be coordinated across the organization. Without that structure, individual experimentation risked becoming fragmented, inconsistent, and invited breaches of compliance.
ACS Publications' Transformation Team—an internal change management group responsible for identifying and implementing new ways of working—was the natural group to lead the charge. But before they could guide others, the team needed to build their own fluency and develop a practical approach that would work across a diverse 400-person division.
Our Approach
Building Fluency from the Inside Out
Dual Logic delivered a custom training program for the Transformation Team that would give them both the knowledge and the confidence to champion AI adoption across the organization.
The engagement began with an intensive series of one-hour sessions covering the fundamentals: responsible use principles, the building blocks of effective prompting, and practical approaches to integrating AI into existing workflows.
From there, the work became individualized. Each team member participated in one-on-one sessions to identify specific opportunities where AI could accelerate their work. These weren't theoretical exercises; they were grounded in each person's actual responsibilities—communications, business analysis, program management, and more.
To sustain progress and encourage peer learning, Dual Logic facilitated weekly office hours where team members could share what they were trying, troubleshoot challenges together, and see how colleagues were applying AI in their own roles. This created a feedback loop that accelerated learning and normalized experimentation.
A Roadmap for the Broader Organization
With the Transformation Team growing in confidence, attention turned to what broader adoption would look like across the Publications Division. Dual Logic worked with the team to design a comprehensive enablement plan that included asynchronous resources like dedicated Teams channels (e.g. "Copilot Corner"), introductory workshops to spark interest across the organization, and a diagnostic survey to assess the division's readiness.
Those surveys proved especially valuable. By stratifying the 400-person division by openness to AI, existing fluency levels, and potential resistance, ACS gained visibility into where support would be needed most—and where early adopters could help lead the way.
The organization is now working through governance and procurement processes to enable team members with broader access to Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. Once that infrastructure is in place, they'll be positioned to execute the adoption plan with confidence.
The Results
The engagement delivered tangible results. The Transformation Team now applies Microsoft 365 Copilot to accelerate high-frequency tasks like drafting communications, analyzing team performance and metrics, and developing assessment and change management plans for key initiatives.
Beyond the metrics, the team began building something harder to quantify but equally important: AI fluency. They now understand not just how to use these tools, but how to think about them—how to identify opportunities, evaluate outputs critically, and guide others through the same learning curve.
Perhaps most significantly, the engagement gave ACS a clear picture of what organization-wide adoption will require. They understand the concerns that will surface, the support structures that will be needed, and the change management approach that will make adoption stick. The Transformation Team isn't just ready to use AI themselves—they're ready to lead others through the same journey.
Looking Ahead
With governance decisions progressing and the enablement infrastructure taking shape, ACS Publications is positioned to move from pilot to scale. The foundation is in place: a fluent internal team, a realistic adoption roadmap, and organizational visibility into what success will require. The next phase will bring AI fluency to the full 400-person division—not as a top-down mandate, but as a capability driven by the Transformation Team.