Making AI adoption practical, human, and actually kind of fun.

falling donuts representing AI Education Workshop Providers - Empowering non-programmers with AI knowledge.

We started with a few big questions:

  • How do you make AI feel relevant to everyone—not just engineers?

  • Can you teach people to think critically about AI without overwhelming them?

  • And can you do it all without boring people to pieces? (Spoiler: Yes, yes you can.)

Boring AI was founded in 2022 to help people make sense of AI in the workplace. What started as a mission to improve AI literacy for employees has grown into a company that supports L&D and HR leaders in driving real AI adoption across their organizations.

We design hands-on training programs, learning labs, and strategic learning design support that makes AI approachable, applicable, and aligned with how people actually work.

Nicolle Merrill Empowering AI Literacy - Making AI accessible to individuals from all backgrounds.
Nicolle Merrill speaking on upskilling and AI
Nicolle Merrill promoting her book Punch Doubt in the Face and upskilling in AI

Nicolle Merrill, CEO

AI Adoption Strategist | L&D Partner | Workshop Facilitator

Nicolle helps organizations move from AI awareness to real adoption. As the founder of Boring AI, she works with L&D and HR leaders to design hands-on training programs that equip teams to use AI with confidence. Her workshops, learning labs, and advisory work have supported Fortune 500s, global teams across finance, marketing, R&D, and higher ed institutions, including Ivy League universities.

Over the past two years, she’s delivered over 200 hours of training across 13 countries, helping organizations create scalable, relevant learning experiences that align with how people actually work.

Her work is rooted in clarity, practical application, and learning science—shaped by years building conversational AI products and designing executive education programs at Yale School of Management.

Nicolle is also the author of Punch Doubt in the Face, a practical guide to upskilling for the future of work. Whether she’s helping L&D teams build internal training or leading a session on AI adoption strategy, Nicolle brings energy, empathy, and structure to help organizations thrive in the age of AI.

Who we’ve helped.

Over the past two years, we’ve supported teams across industries—often through white-labeled partnerships—to move from AI awareness to real adoption.

Our work includes:

  • Hosting AI Learning Labs at Fortune 500 companies to encourage experimentation and build AI confidence

  • Creating custom AI adoption curriculums and success metrics for cross-functional teams in Finance, R&D, Marketing, and more

  • Guiding business leaders and L&D teams on AI upskilling strategy and change readiness

  • Teaching product and innovation teams how to design user-centered AI agents

  • Upskilling an Ivy League university’s executive education team to integrate AI into their programs

    Much of our work has been delivered through white-labeled partnerships or embedded collaborations, often supporting internal teams from the inside. While the logos stay confidential, the impact is clear: helping organizations make AI useful, usable, and aligned with how people actually work.

FAQs

  • Glad you noticed. First, google the term AI. What do you see in the images? Robots. Lines of code. Abstract circuits. So much blue, black, and grey.

    The images the industry uses to represent AI are limiting. They don’t tell the full truth about how AI works (it’s not a brain) or it’s impact on people.

    AI isn’t just robots and code. It’s data, decision making, tooling, and technology that shapes our everyday lives.

    The industry needs to reimagine how we visualize and communicate AI and its impact.

    By creating an AI company branded with images of donuts and bright colors, I’m rejecting the current representation of AI.

    Plus, it’s way more fun this way because most people leave our sessions with a donut craving.

    Learn more about about reimagining how we visualize AI and see artists’ work in this space on Better Images of AI.

  • Once, in pre-GPT times, Nicolle told her good friend about her work teaching people how to use AI and her friend replied, “Sounds boring.” And the truth is, many, many, many AI trainings and talks are terribly boring, even post-GPT.

    So she named her company Boring AI to simply set the bar low. So now she can dazzle workshop participants with something completely different and unexpected.

    Also, i’s just fun to call your company boring.

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“Omg I can’t believe you made AI fun” <- Actual feedback from an audience member.