Joshua Groth
Building AI-fluent
Organisations.
I lead enterprise AI transformation and research what makes it last.
External Doctoral Researcher, ISE Chair, TU Darmstadt.
Senior Expert AI Transformation & Organizational Development,
Riverty (Bertelsmann Group).
"AI Literacy is knowledge.
AI Fluency is habit."
Tool training gets people to the basics. The harder part is making AI part of how the work gets done every day, carried by the teams themselves. That is what AI Fluency means.
My research investigates the mechanisms that make this transition possible at enterprise scale.
Research and practice.
Research
External Doctoral Researcher at the ISE Chair, TU Darmstadt, under Prof. Dr. Alexander Benlian.
Focus: which mechanisms enable enterprise-wide AI transformations, how people evolve from AI Awareness to AI Fluency, and AI Fluency as a trainable habit that mediates between AI enablement mechanisms and sustained AI adoption.
Practice
Senior Expert AI Transformation & Organizational Development at Riverty (Bertelsmann Group). Enterprise-wide AI Fluency Programme covering approximately 4,700 employees with C-level sponsorship.
Built: 5-stage AI Fluency Scaling Model, AI Fluency Index for capability measurement, multiplier network of tool experts and AI ambassadors.
Joshua Groth
He lives with his family at Lake Constance, Baden-Württemberg.
His work spans the operational programme at Riverty and doctoral research into why AI transformations hold or collapse. He leads Riverty's enterprise-wide AI Fluency and Change Enablement programme, one of the larger AI enablement efforts inside the Bertelsmann Group. His doctoral research at the ISE Chair, TU Darmstadt, under Prof. Dr. Alexander Benlian, investigates the mechanisms that make enterprise-wide AI transformations sustainable.
Before moving into AI transformation, he spent several years as a Senior Consultant at STAR COOPERATION, delivering international transformation programmes for Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen, BMW, and Volvo across more than 20 markets. Earlier career stations include Accenture, Daimler, and Berlin film production.
He founded a Berlin-based independent music label in 2010.
He operates across Germany and the DACH region. International mandates are conducted in English.
Stations and clients
The path.
From enterprise AI transformation back to the film sets and the independent label where it began.
TU Darmstadt
The doctorate. A cumulative dissertation, Transforming Organisations into AI-Fluent Enterprises, at the Information Systems & E-Services Chair under Prof. Dr. Alexander Benlian.
Riverty · Bertelsmann
From post-merger integration of Arvato Financial Solutions, Paigo and AfterPay into Riverty, to leading the enterprise-wide AI Fluency & Change Enablement programme.
STAR Cooperation
Transformation and enablement for Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo across 20+ markets.
Accenture · for Google
Advising SMBs and agencies across DACH on digital growth from Dublin.
University of Worcester
The MBA, with a thesis written inside Daimler's media production environment.
Daimler · Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz film and photo productions, then a thesis on process optimisation and lean management in Daimler's media production environment.
Breda University · Netherlands
Four years in the Netherlands studying international media and entertainment management.
Independent Music Label
An independent label and artist collective. Music production, video direction, digital distribution and brand building.
Film & Commercial Production
From production assistant to producer across TV, cinema, commercials and music videos, for clients including NBC Universal, Universal Music and Mercedes-Benz, and for the Cinema for Peace Gala.
Where it began.
Background.
Positions
Education
Speaking and Conferences.
I speak on AI Fluency, organisational transformation, and the practical mechanisms behind enterprise-wide AI adoption.
- 01 From AI Literacy to AI Fluency: How Organisations Make the Leap Why training alone plateaus, and which organisational mechanisms carry the transition.
- 02 The AI Fluency Scaling Model: Stage-Coupled Enablement in Practice Five stages, five different enablement mechanisms, and how to tell which stage an organisation is in.
- 03 AI as Organisational Capability: From Tool Training to Routine How to measure fluency through behaviour, structure and outcome instead of tool-click statistics.
Formats: keynote (30 to 45 minutes), panel, executive briefing. German or English.
Recognition and appearances
Writing.
On AI Fluency, organisational transformation, and the gap between AI Literacy and AI Adoption.
The first essays are on the way. Until then, current writing appears on LinkedIn.
Frequently Asked Questions.
On AI Fluency, the research, and the work behind it.
Joshua Groth is External Doctoral Researcher at the ISE Chair, TU Darmstadt, under Prof. Dr. Alexander Benlian, and Senior Expert AI Transformation & Organizational Development at Riverty, the financial services arm of the Bertelsmann Group. At Riverty, he leads the enterprise-wide AI Fluency and Change Enablement programme covering approximately 4,700 employees with C-level sponsorship. His research investigates which mechanisms make enterprise-wide AI transformations sustainable.
AI Fluency is the organisational routine through which AI becomes a natural part of daily work. It is distinct from AI Literacy, which describes individual knowledge about AI. An AI-fluent organisation has embedded AI across mindset, skills, leadership, governance, and its operating model, so that using AI becomes a daily habit instead of a one-off project. AI Fluency is measurable, trainable, and develops along a maturity logic ranging from Awareness to full Organisational Fluency.
AI Literacy is knowledge. AI Fluency is habit. AI Literacy describes understanding of AI: its possibilities, limitations, and risks. It is the individual prerequisite for AI use. AI Fluency is behavioural routine. It shows when employees use AI without prompting in daily work, leaders make AI visible in decisions, and the organisation restructures workflows around AI. The transition from Literacy to Fluency happens through organisational embedding in structures, roles, and work routines. Additional training alone does not carry this transition.
The AI Fluency Scaling Model is a five-stage maturity model for organisational AI adoption, developed in the context of the Riverty AI transformation. Stage I AI Awareness: first exposure and orientation. Stage II AI Literacy: tools, basics, responsible usage. Stage III Multiplier Fluency: leaders, SPOCs, and Ambassadors carry capability broadly. Stage IV Targeted Enablement: role-specific AI Labs translate potential into operational use cases. Stage V Org. AI Fluency: AI is embedded in routines and line-owned. Each stage needs a different enablement mechanism. Fluency starts to take hold from Stage III onwards.
The AI Fluency Index is a metric developed in the context of the Riverty AI transformation to measure organisational AI capability. It captures tool usage together with the qualitative dimensions of an AI-fluent organisation: mindset, skills, leadership practice, and embedding in workflows. The Index is derived from a structured AI Fluency Survey and delivers a current-state picture mapped against the AI Fluency Scaling Model. This allows the maturity of an organisation to be quantified and development levers to be prioritised. The Index is an internal research and steering instrument, not a marketing score.
The programme has moved AI enablement from a central project into line ownership. A multiplier network of tool experts, SPOCs and AI ambassadors carries capability across the organisation, role-specific AI Labs translate potential into operational use cases, and the AI Fluency Index gives leadership a measured view of maturity rather than tool-click statistics. Detailed adoption figures are internal to Riverty; the mechanisms and the measurement logic behind them are the subject of his doctoral research.
AI Fluency is measured across three dimensions: behaviour, structure, and outcome. Behaviour: how often, how naturally, and how competently employees use AI in daily work. Structure: whether roles, processes, governance, and multiplier networks are established. Outcome: whether measurable changes in productivity, quality, or time-to-production are demonstrable. An AI-fluent organisation shows all three dimensions simultaneously. Raw tool-click statistics are misleading because they confuse activity with capability.
Operational AI enablement experience comes from the ongoing role at Riverty (Bertelsmann Group). Before that: Senior Consultant at STAR COOPERATION with international transformation programmes for Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen, BMW, and Volvo across more than 20 markets. Earlier positions: Accenture (consulting for Google in Dublin), Daimler (MBA thesis), and Berlin film productions.
Joshua Groth lives with his family at Lake Constance in Baden-Württemberg. Professionally, he operates across Germany and the DACH region. International mandates are conducted in English. Study and professional stations in Germany, the UK (MBA, University of Worcester), the Netherlands (Bachelor, Breda University), and Ireland shape his perspective on organisational transformation.
By email to mail@joshuagroth.com. He speaks on AI Fluency, organisational transformation, and the mechanisms behind enterprise-wide AI adoption, at conferences, company events, and panels, in German or English. Media, podcast, and interview requests go to the same address.
Get in touch.
Speaking
Conference keynotes, company events, panel discussions on AI Fluency and organisational transformation.
mail@joshuagroth.com →Research Collaboration
Academic partnerships, joint research, peer review, and access to AI Fluency methodology and instruments.
mail@joshuagroth.com →Media & Press
Interviews, podcasts and features on AI Fluency and enterprise AI adoption. Bio, facts and photos in the press kit.
Press kit →General Inquiries
Advisory mandates, recruiting, and everything else. Confidential and direct.
mail@joshuagroth.com →