AI for Self-Made Tools and Systems

There are conflicting studies out there that suggest 95% of enterprise AI projects fail, while 75% of enterprises get ROI from AI tools. How can this be? If you know how to use your tools, using AI often isn't that helpful. If you know how to write and know what you want, then it is often faster to write yourself than repeatedly prompt AI until it gives you what you are looking for.

I find that AI is most useful in automating processes I understand very well. First, to qualify, they must be taking manual time from me each day or week to execute. Second, they should not require any creativity (except the initial creativity to make the process). Then I ask myself whether it is worthwhile to automate this process? (time to automate - time spent on task). If so, then AI is great for these tasks.

I use off-the-shelf tools and flexible platforms to build these automations quickly. AI funnels data into these processes and generates a result. These systems are what is valuable, not the AI model. Not only is this a more reliable way to generate a repeatable result, but it will also give you an advantage, so long as your system isn't easily sherlocked, you'll also have access to something that makes you more productive than anyone else has.

The mistake that 95% of businesses make is that they spend 6 months making custom bespoke AI workflows to try to automate creative processes they don't understand very well, and are outdated by the time they are deployed. Learn to use the tools already out there to make yourself more productive, and you will see positive benefits quickly for much less time, effort, and cost.