When should I not use AI in my business?

Treat AI like a capable new employee on their first day: give it the high volume, low stakes work where a mistake costs a shrug, such as sorting enquiries or sending a reminder, and keep the judgement calls for yourself. Ninety five per cent right is excellent for sorting enquiries and a poor result for signing off a quote.

The businesses that get burned by AI are usually the ones that skipped this question and handed over a decision that needed a human's judgement, not just speed. Knowing where the line sits matters more than knowing what the tool can technically do.

A useful test before switching anything on: what is the actual cost if this is wrong once. If the answer is a customer walks away annoyed, that is a shrug. If the answer is a customer is hurt, misled or out of pocket, that decision stays with you.

It is also worth asking what you would tell your team about where the line sits, because a rule you cannot explain to a staff member in one sentence is usually not a rule you have actually thought through yet. The clearest operators can say it in a sentence: AI handles the repeat questions, a person handles anything that changes the outcome for a customer.

When in doubt, hold the decision back a level rather than letting the tool make the call. It costs a small amount of speed and buys back the judgement that is genuinely the harder thing to replace.

Writing this line down once, in plain words, and sharing it with anyone who touches the tool, is worth more than any technical safeguard, because most mistakes happen when nobody was sure whose call it was to make.