When are you ready for AI?
It might be sooner than you think.
I've heard some department heads say that they want to explore AI, but only after they're ready. It's wise not to rush headlong into an AI initiative—that's precisely how you get it to fail and join the 95% of AI projects that fail. However, there's also such a thing as waiting too long for a perfect world that never comes. Here then are a few checks for whether you're ready to start properly exploring AI:
You think the way your company does things could be improved, but at least there is a well-defined way your company does things. If everything is a hot mess, throwing AI at it will give you a white-hot mess.
Data isn't perfect, but it's available. Modern AI can handle messy data. What it can't handle is an absence of data. And even there, you might need less data than you thought. LLMs have already been trained on the entire available written word, so getting them to understand your specific data might not require gigabytes of it.
You know what you want to achieve. Nothing leads to project failure quicker than a lack of clarity on this point. There are dozens of ways a given problem can be tackled with (or without) AI, and each way has its own set of tradeoffs. Only absolute clarity on what "solved" looks like can the tradeoffs be matched to the requirements.
How did you score?
3 - Absolutely ready. Don't wait for perfect. Just start implementing your initiative. In-house, or with a trusted partner.
2 - Almost ready. You just need a little nudge to remove the last hurdle before you can start implementing AI. Perhaps a quick call with us can help you get unstuck.
0-1 - Not quite ready. There's still a lot of groundwork to lay before you can start fully adopting AI. These steps might be projects in and of themselves, such as building a solid data pipeline, mapping your business processes, and defining success criteria for an AI initiative. You might also benefit from ongoing coaching in this topic. Most importantly, you'd want to pick an area where we can work iteratively, in small steps, with low-hanging fruit and easy wins available.
At AICE Labs, we'd love to help you do AI right, no matter what stage of your journey you're in. Whether it's a custom project right away or providing you with the advice to get you there, we've got the experience to get you unstuck.
