In a few years, every new employee entering the workforce will already have become accustomed to using AI to solve problems and help with tasks and theyre going to want the same tools at work as those they use at home. Thats the important take-away from new research that shows about a quarter of US teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork.We know, because weve seen it already; once powerful technologies take hold in the school room, they tend to proliferate across business markets later. Weve seen it happen before with the Mac, the PC, iPad, and iPhone. Weve seen it happen in the evolution of photo-sharing sites and social media.Were going to keep seeing this happen in the future. You dont have to like it, but you have to accept that once a technology reaches critical mass in the schoolroom, it appears in business later.Tomorrows worldTomorrows employees have grown up with that tech, meaning Gen Z is also set to be Generation AI. This is going to become increasingly important to business users, who will need to make the right investments today to ensure they have appropriate tech (including experience and policy) in place.This is something thats evidently important to device, service, and operating system vendors, as each and every one of them is now engaged in a rapid sprint to deploy AI in their offerings. Apple, of course, is a little unique in that it is attempting toweave privacy into the systems it provides,including Apple Intelligence, something that will be seen as of increasing importance to business users as they seek to lock down their information, both in competitive terms and also to meet data protection requirements.For digital natives, privacy is a currency they want to controlIts interesting to see how Generation Z sees privacy. These digital natives want to control the digital narrative concerning their lives, have grown up with the internet, and are more likely to digest information in video than written form.They also understand how things work. That means theyknow about the privacy settings on their devices and are more likely than older generations to use them.They are prepared to share personal information in exchange for personalized services, but areconcerned about misuse, abuse, or tracking of them or their data and dont have much faith in the ability of companies to protect that information.This implies that, when they begin their working lives, they will prefer workplace solutions that provide both convenience and privacy. But as the digital transformation experience accelerated by the iPhone-led smartphone revolution showed, they will still use AI even if companies dont approve the services they prefer.This is why it is important today to test and rate existing AI systems against your own business security and privacy policies.Invest in infrastructureBy the time your next generational employee intake takes place, youll want to ensure the use of AI across your organization has been tested, verified, and has become mature. Otherwise (and not for the first time), current generations will be leaving it to subsequent ones to figure out how to shave the corners off the wheel, giving those whove already figured out how to build better roads for those circular objects the edge when it comes to supporting any kind of customer journey.It remains to be seen the extent to which AI will either unleash the creativity and innovation itsproponents promise us, or confine human endeavor to an Overton window defined by the people who build the AI systems we use. But we already seem unable to leave the vehicle.There is one more thing for business users planning their AI deployments to consider, and thats Apple. You see, despite Siri, Apple already has astrong grip on Generation Z its market share among US teens continues to grow. Theylike Apple and its services.While they dont see Apple Intelligence as aparticularly big draw yet, in the fast-moving long game of AI deployment, so long as Apple focuses on things they care about such as privacy and delivers AI that does what it says it does, the companys resurgence in enterprise markets will continue. That means demand for Apple in the workplace will continue to grow, and it will remain essential to open things up with employee choice schemes and consider Mac, iPad, and iPhone deployments across US business.You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn,Mastodon, andMeWe.