AI Bullseye Tactics For Non-Technical Business Leaders

People are infatuated with AI – the shiny new thing that seems as if it ought to be able to help.

AI, the newest shiny object for enhancing business value, competes with more common routes to building value, including innovation, cutting costs, and enhancing the customer experience. Other management practices, such as Six Sigma, process re-engineering, and product innovation already address or incorporate those routes.

Historically, business decisions required certainty. Banks defined good or bad lending risks with rules that included empirical requirements, such as credit scores. Someone with a low credit score couldn’t get a loan, but lenders welcomed those whose credit scores beat their cutoff point.

AI doesn’t provide clear-cut certainty. An AI analysis studies numerous data points, so it is more likely to produce an answer that gives a range, such as saying that its analysis suggests, “…86% approval of the loan applicant and a 14% disapproval…” The old rule-driven system answered yes or no, but AI delivers results on a spectrum. Failure to acknowledge the fundamental...