'We need AI' is the new 'we need a hammer'

No one starts a construction project declaring "We need a hammer" but the amazingly effective Gen AI marketing has many people vaguely stating "We need AI."

You need whatever tools get you to your end goal, not to keep up with the Joneses.

That pressure that many executives feel to stay on the cutting edge has resulted in a slew of AI implementations where the problem being solved would be more reliably and affordably handled by good old-fashioned deterministic software. Especially once token subsidies disappear.

I learned a long time ago to pull the conversation back to my client's strategy and pain points when they've skipped over that step to fixate on a particular tool. What's the operational friction that's eating your margins? Clunky processes eating your teams' time that can either be automated or smoothed out with the right tools / UI. What goals are you looking to achieve this quarter where software can be a lever?

If that discovery ends with a need that genuinely can be helped by a sophisticated-language-probability algorithm, then I'm happy to help build that. But sometimes the most effective solutions are boring – process updates, systems integrations, well-designed UI. I'll implement those too, even if they don't come with the clout of building a shiny new AI toy.