By Samuel Archibald / 17 Jun 2026 / Topics: Artificial Intelligence (AI) , Modern infrastructure , Change and training , Generative AI
The biggest barrier to AI adoption in creative organizations is not technical complexity — it's fear. Employees see the empty chat box and don't know where to start, or they worry that learning AI means automating themselves out of a job. Samuel Archibald solved both problems by building a gamified AI training program from scratch, tailored specifically to the fears and workflows of creative professionals at the Sherlock Company, a creative agency serving major entertainment studios.
The conversation traces how Archibald moved from solo AI explorer to Sherlock Company’s director of AI in less than two years — taking on security, onboarding, learning module development, and platform engineering. His custom-built learning platform offers two modes: a standard interface and a gamified "quest mode" where teammates progress through towns, earn gold and experience, and customize avatars. The result? A 93% completion rate across 15 modules during beta testing, with none of them mandatory.
Archibald's assessment system uses a three-agent grading architecture — a Precision Analyst, a Quality Reviewer, and a Practical Reviewer — overseen by a fourth agent that reconciles disagreements and delivers a final score. This replaced multiple-choice quizzes that people could game by scrolling to the bottom. He also built a multi-agent prompt auditor that reviews planned prompts and returns structured feedback including roles, goals, scope boundaries, and completion criteria.
The most surprising outcome: Non-technical creative staff outpaced the engineering team in AI adoption. Teammates who had never opened a terminal were writing Photoshop plugins and building mini apps. The engineering team, with a less AI-forward direct manager, initially pushed back on non-coders doing work they considered their domain. Archibald's automation rule — "if you do something twice, start thinking about automating it; three times, it needs to be automated" — became the team's decision framework.
Leaders building AI enablement programs will hear how separating LLMs from image and audio models reduces creative professionals' fear, why teaching personal-life AI use cases improves professional adoption, and why celebrating failures in team workshops removes the pressure that keeps reluctant adopters silent.
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Samuel Archibald
Director of AI, Sherlock Company
Audio transcript:
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Director of AI, Sherlock Company
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