Your first AI project should solve a small, real problem.

Start with the work, then choose the tool.

Ask the people doing the work where they spend time collecting, organizing, or rewriting information. Look for a task with a clear input and an output a person can review. A first pilot should be small enough to understand from beginning to end.

For example, a team might explore using AI to turn approved meeting notes into a draft follow-up. The task has a defined source, an expected format, and an obvious human reviewer. That is a more useful brief than ‘bring AI into the office.’

Set the boundaries before the experiment.

Decide what information can enter the selected tool, who can use it, and what must be reviewed before an output leaves the team. Review the provider's relevant settings and terms against your organization's requirements. Do not assume that a personal account and a business account handle information the same way.

• Name a person who owns the workflow.
• Choose approved inputs and representative examples.
• Define the decisions that stay with a person.
• Agree on what a useful output looks like.
• Keep a clear way to report an incorrect or unhelpful result.

Measure the whole task.

A quick first draft is not the same as a completed piece of work. Consider the time spent preparing inputs, checking the result, correcting mistakes, and moving it into the next system. Ask whether the final output is more useful and whether the person doing the task feels more confident.

A short comparison with the existing process can reveal whether the pilot is worth continuing. Use the same kind of work on both sides and record the review needed—not just the generation speed.

Teach with examples your people recognize.

Training should let employees practice with situations they encounter in their own roles. Show a good example, an incomplete example, and a result that needs correction. Make it normal to question the output.

After the pilot, capture what worked in a short guide. Expand only when the team understands the workflow, the review responsibilities are clear, and the result is useful enough to repeat.