#350 AI-Augmented Teams: How to create Defensible repeatable results | Book Release

The guest, Dr. Darren, a Chief Enterprise Architect and educator, reveals his new book, *AI Augmented Teams*, which reframes AI adoption not as individual skill-building but as a team-based transformation. He argues that most AI initiatives fail not due to technology, but because teams lack the meta-skills to critically evaluate, validate, and defend AI-generated work—leading to a phenomenon he calls the 'AI faker,' where polished outputs lack depth and defensibility. Drawing from his work at Vanderbilt and with Intel clients, Darren introduces the AI Augmented Operating System, a framework for managers to diagnose team members across four archetypes: AI augmented, AI faker, under-leveraged, and underdeveloped. The book emphasizes strengthening critical thinking, communication, and collaboration over prompting techniques. A companion toolkit at paydar.ai helps teams build these skills. This is the first in a five-book series, including *Becoming AI Augmented* (individuals), *AI Augmented Enterprise*, *Educating the AI Augmented*, and *AI Augmented Education*, each tailored to different roles and systems. The series aims to institutionalize AI augmentation as a repeatable, defensible practice across organizations and education.