[sdesol]

> got essentially threatened by leadership for not using AI.

This sounds made up or your workplace is rather odd to say the least. Maybe english isn't your first language and "threatened" is not the correct word?

[datakan]

You sound like someone thats never worked in a corporate environment. No, threatened is the correct word. I don't care if you like that or not.

[sdesol]

It is not about me liking it or not. The word threaten comes with implications. This means they acted in hostile manner based on your words.

[anticorporate]

Directly threatening individuals and teams for petty reasons is sadly common practice in US corporate environments and among the reasons I adopted my current HN username.

[27183]

They usually do it by saying there's something wrong with your performance. If your technical work is unimpeachable they'll manufacture some "soft skills" issue--like saying there's something wrong with your communication. They can always find fault if they go looking for it.