AI & decision-making
How should a business choose its first AI use case?
The best first AI use case is the one that can teach you whether the tool helps under ordinary conditions.
Published 25 September 2026
Choose a bounded task with a baseline
Find work that occurs often enough to test, has a known correct or acceptable result and does not expose sensitive information without a clear basis. Measure current time, error and rework before introducing a model.
Avoid a use case chosen solely because the demonstration looks impressive. A rare executive decision with no agreed reference is difficult to evaluate and risky to automate.
Keep the first test small and reversible
Run representative cases, including ambiguous and incomplete ones. Count useful outputs, corrections, abstentions and reviewer time. A draft that saves writing time but doubles checking time may not help.
Name who can stop the trial and what result would justify expansion. The first win is a sound decision about whether and where the tool belongs.
A team wants to automate complex client advice but also spends hours classifying incoming service requests.
Classification may be a better first test: the team has examples, can check categories and can route uncertain items to a person. The advice task has higher stakes and a harder standard of proof.