Paysend Restricts AI Tools to Top Performers as CEO Cites 25% Engineering Gain

2 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 17

Paysend gives AI access only to high-performing staff, with CEO Ben Chisell saying the tools must be earned rather than rolled out company-wide.
Chisell said the policy reflects skepticism about AI hype and a belief that, in weak hands, it can amplify laziness and poor judgment even as it lifts engineering output by about 25%.
New hires get a month to test AI and show concrete results; one SEO lead dropped a request for Claude and instead proposed a narrower content-brief agent after finding limited value.
Other U.K. companies are taking a broader approach—Lloyds issued 40,000 Copilot licenses and Grant Thornton UK tied Claude use to a £500 million AI push—though productivity gains often have not translated into revenue growth.
Chisell and some peers argue AI should expand capacity, not simply cut jobs, with human ownership kept over automated work as companies rethink where employees add value.