AI Is Powerful, But Be Sure to Use It Wisely in Your Business

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. In the past few years, we've seen the rise of machine learning and AI technologies that can hypothetically transform your business for the better. It can help with everything from predictive analytics to content generation, and in the future, it seems reasonable to suspect that AI is going to become even more sophisticated and applicable.

There's no doubt that AI is a powerful tool that can improve your business performance and mitigate weaknesses. But it's important to be able to use AI wisely in your business if you want to harness its full potential without falling victim to its downsides.

These are some of the most important potential downsides of AI to be aware of:

• Inaccuracies. Many people are now using AI as a new type of search engine, but AI is subject to fabricating information – a phenomenon known as AI hallucinations. AI isn't perfectly reliable, and it doesn't always have real-time access to information, so you need to have safeguards in place to prevent it from going off the rails.
• Applications. AI is extremely good for certain types of applications, such as data analytics. But it's not very good at other things, like high-level innovation or business planning. Trying to use AI for an application it's not suited for is a recipe for disaster, even if the tool is marketed as being capable in this area.
• Replacement of human resources. Many business owners, perhaps reasonably, believe that AI is suitable to replace human labor. On a small scale, this is a perfectly appropriate upgrade. But replacing human resources comes with several risks to your organization, especially when it comes to AI technology that hasn't been sufficiently tested.

• Privacy and security concerns. AI presents certain issues related to privacy and security. There are no AI products on the market that are perfectly private or secure, so you need to do your due diligence and make sure each tool has protections in place to be a good fit for your organization. There may also be some applications where the use of AI is simply too risky.
• Human errors. AI performance is largely dependent on the actions of the humans utilizing it. Even a small human error can have powerful downstream effects when amplified by AI.
• Costs. Don't forget about the costs of AI tools. There may be an innovative, exciting new tool on the market, but if it's too expensive, it may not be worth getting. Similarly, if you already have too many AI tools to manage, adding another could disproportionately burden your budget.

So, what exactly does it mean to be able to use AI wisely in your business?

• Be thoughtful and deliberate in adding new tools. Too many business owners gobble up as many AI powered tools as they can, mistakenly believing that AI is always good, is always beneficial, and is never redundant. In reality, AI isn't suitable for all applications, and some AI tools are better than others. On top of that, not every beneficial AI tool is going to be beneficial for your business, specifically. Accordingly, you need to be thoughtful and deliberate when adding new tools to your organization.

• Do your due diligence. You should do your due diligence with every new piece of software you integrate into your organization. You need to understand what this tool is, how it works, who makes it, and what its critical limitations and vulnerabilities are. If you can't speak to all these fronts, you don't understand the tool sufficiently to integrate it into your business.
• Create consistent processes. Make sure all your employees know exactly what this tool is capable of and what the proper ways to use it are. Create official policies and protocols for your employees to follow, then provide the necessary education and training to make sure these processes are followed consistently.

• Fact check everything. AI has gotten better in recent years, but it's still subject to AI hallucinations and other forms of inaccuracy. Double check everything that your AI tools create to minimize the risk of any errors.
• Don’t neglect the human element. Finally, don't forget how important the human element is to your business. Almost everything, from sales to customer service, benefits from genuine human connection.

AI is a powerful tool, but it can't be used mindlessly in your business. You need to actively research AI, understand both its strengths and its weaknesses, and integrate it into your business in a way that allows you to harness its full potential.