Picture a new assistant who is fast, tireless, and eager, but has only worked with you for a week. You’d let them draft replies, gather files, and fill in forms. You wouldn’t let them sign contracts on day one.
That’s a good way to think about AI at work. It’s great at preparing. People should still make the calls that matter.
What AI does well
- Reading and sorting large piles of information quickly.
- Writing a solid first draft from facts you already have.
- Checking work against a list of rules.
- Spotting things that look unusual.
Where a person should stay in charge
- Anything involving money leaving the business.
- Messages to upset customers or sensitive situations.
- Legal, medical, or hiring decisions.
- Anything the AI isn’t sure about.
A good AI tool knows when to stop and ask. A great one makes asking easy.
Build the stops into the work
The approval step shouldn’t be an afterthought. Design it in from the start: who approves what, how they see the evidence, and what happens if they say no. When approving is quick and clear, people actually read before they click “yes.”
Earn more freedom over time
As a tool proves itself on one kind of task, you might let it handle the simplest cases on its own and send only the unusual ones to a person. That trust should be earned, task by task, never assumed.