I’ll be honest: I’m not immediately impressed by your “AI business.”
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Stating that you have an AI-enabled business is like saying you have a Home Depot-enabled business without specifying whether you are using hammers, screwdrivers, or lawn mowers, and for what purpose.
— Kishau Rogers
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Nearly anything can be AI-enabled. So much so that I have even been reluctant to use the phrase to describe my own business. I’ve been deliberate about specifying exactly how and why we use the technology. For example, I may mention where and how we use classification algorithms or Natural Language Processing (NLP) instead of simply saying AI-enabled. I believe that specificity builds trust, creates clarity, and makes it easier to prove value. Our customers want confidence that we know which tools to use and that we are not swinging hammers just because they generate more attention.
--> This is not about AI. It is about tools and what drives the decision to use the tools we choose.
I am not anti-AI. Far from it. I use it a lot professionally and personally. I have watched these technologies mature, spread, and become accessible in ways that would have been unthinkable not long ago. That part excites me. I like the idea of having better tools in more capable hands. I believe in democratized innovation. What I do not believe is that the presence of AI automatically makes something innovative. For every thoughtful, transformative use of AI, there is another that is unnecessary, destructive, or stupid.
-->Here are two questions worth considering before centering your business around AI (or any other tool):
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The AI Disappearance Test
Does Your Business Make Sense Without AI?
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What if AI disappeared tomorrow? Would your business still make sense?
If the answer is no, that is not an AI problem; that is a business problem. AI is not a business. Homebuilders are not in the hammer business. If hammers were significantly improved or vanished entirely, an innovative homebuilder would still be in business, provided they know how to build quality homes using the tools available to them. The companies that will last are the ones who understand their tools and their customers well enough to know where and when adopting new tools is actually helpful.
Moving Beyond the ‘Hit Everything With a Hammer’ Approach to AI
In what other ways could you accomplish your goal?
Even considering that question makes you more innovative than adopting the “hit everything with a hammer” approach to AI that is so common today. Honestly, I am most impressed by people who are transparent about the ways they will not use AI. This is especially true now, when opting out can make you look unimaginative, behind the times, or worst of all, boring.
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The AI is Everywhere Test
What Is Your Actual Advantage?
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Now consider the opposite: what if every business is an AI-enabled business? We are moving toward a future where “AI-enabled” is the default setting for every company. When AI is everywhere, it ceases to be a competitive edge and becomes a standard utility, much like electricity or a phone line. You are forced to answer the only question that actually matters: why should anyone care about what you are building? The real differentiator becomes how clearly you understand your mission and which tools actually help you serve it.
Utility vs. Relevance: What Drives Your AI Decision-Making?
Ultimately, we have to ask: what’s driving the decision to use the tools we use?
Knowing when and where to use your tools shows depth and discipline. It signals a degree of discernment that does not blow with the wind or follow the latest craze. You might even find that you build better things, not because you used AI everywhere possible, but because you had the good sense to know when to use it and understood it well enough to use it well.
There will always be a new shiny object to chase. AI is not the point. The impact of what you build with it is.
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