Abstract: The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into contemporary organisations is one of the most consequential sociotechnical transformations of the modern era. Whilst the operational and economic impacts of AI have attracted considerable scholarly attention, the cultural implications of this transformation remain comparatively underexplored. This paper addresses that gap by examining, in depth, how AI influences organisational culture at each of the three levels identified in Edgar Schein’s foundational framework: artefacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions. Drawing primarily on four recent empirical and theoretical contributions, namely English and Kenny’s (2025a) work on AI and emotional intelligence, their (2025b) study on cobots and cultural rewriting, English and Kenny’s (2026) theoretical framework for AI-mediated distributed cognition in multicultural firms, and Kenny and English’s (2025) investigation of cultural intelligence and CEO authenticity, the paper develops a multi-layered argument about AI’s capacity to both reinforce and destabilise organisational culture. The Netflix culture model, with its emphasis on talent density, freedom and responsibility, and the keeper test, is employed as an illustrative case study throughout. The paper argues that AI is not a culturally neutral technological instrument; rather, it is an active sociotechnical agent that reshapes artefacts, challenges espoused values, and ultimately penetrates the deepest layer of organisational life, the basic underlying assumptions that govern how people think, relate, and make meaning at work. The paper concludes with practical implications for emotionally and culturally intelligent leadership and calls for a governance approach to AI integration that treats cultural change as a first-order strategic concern.

Keywords: Organisational culture, Artificial Intelligence, Schein’s cultural model, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, cobots, distributed cognition, Netflix culture, algorithmic management, leadership.