Note 019AI1 min read
What AI can actually automate in a business
The repetitive work AI handles well, the decisions it should leave to people, and how to find the first thing worth automating.
AI is talked about as if it could do anything. In practice it is very good at some kinds of work and should not be trusted with others. The useful question is not what AI can do in general, but which part of your week it could take off your hands.
What AI does well
- Answering the same questions, again and again, at any hour
- Reading documents, forms and messages and pulling out what matters
- Sorting and routing: which request goes to which person
- Summarising long threads, reports and meetings
- Drafting routine replies for a person to check
- Watching numbers and raising an alert when something changes
What it should leave to people
- Decisions that need judgement, responsibility or care
- Anything where a wrong answer is costly and hard to undo
- Promises about prices, deadlines or commitments it cannot check
Find the first thing to automate
Look for work that repeats every day, follows the same pattern each time, and takes someone's attention away from work only they can do. That is usually where an automation pays back first, and where people are most glad to hand it over. It is the work our AI and autonomous systems are built for.
Assistants and watchers
Some automations answer; others watch. An assistant that knows your company answers questions. A system can also follow data as it arrives, spot what needs attention and act on it without a person waiting, like the print farm pictured, where an AI check watches the camera while a print runs; see Systems that run on their own.
Follow the studio
The work in these notes, as it is made: pieces off the printers, systems going live.
