Taking Advantage of AI

Taking Advantage of AI Today: Key Takeaways from My Talk at the Sanford Chamber of Commerce

More than seventy years ago, a young professor named John McCarthy coined the phrase "artificial intelligence" for a summer workshop at Dartmouth. The idea predates most of the software we use every day. What's new is that it now lives inside the tools already on our desks, and it costs a modest monthly subscription.

When I spoke to the Chamber, my message was simple: you don't need a technical background or a big transformation budget to start getting value from AI. You need one simple use case.

Start narrow. Look for a task that is frequent, time-consuming, easy for a person to review, and low risk if something goes wrong. Good examples include drafting replies from approved policies, summarizing meetings, and turning field notes into job updates. Pick one task, one tool, and one person accountable for checking the result.

Pick a platform that fits how you already work. ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are the big three. Gemini leans toward Google Workspace shops, ChatGPT has the widest plugin ecosystem, and Claude is strong on long documents and nuanced writing. Microsoft Copilot brings AI into Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams for Microsoft 365 users. Features and pricing change quickly, so verify before you buy.

Use it with care. Keep sensitive customer, employee, donor, health, and payment data out of unapproved tools. Verify names, dates, numbers, and quotes before they shape a decision. Have a named person approve anything external or consequential, and put the basics in a simple one-page policy.

Make it stick in 30 days. Crawl in weeks one and two by choosing a task and testing it with safe data. Walk in week three by standardizing the prompt, the review steps, and the owner. In week four, run it by measuring time, quality, and follow-through. Success means the task works repeatedly, the team trusts it, and someone owns the result.

The bigger point is that AI creates lasting value when it improves how work moves through the business, not just one person's results. That is how a business becomes easier to run, easier to grow, and more valuable.

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