Explainer / Artificial Intelligence
An AI trial needs more than a tool and an enthusiastic team. It needs a clear purpose, someone accountable for the outcome and a way to check whether the result is useful.
The UK Government’s AI Playbook sets out principles for public-sector use, including meaningful human control. Private organisations can also use that principle as a useful discussion prompt; it is not, by itself, a compliance certificate.
Three questions for a first trial
What specific task should the tool help with? Who can recognise an incorrect answer? What happens if the tool gets it wrong? Start with a bounded task whose output can be reviewed before anyone acts on it.
Agree what information may be entered and check the service’s terms and data controls. Give reviewers enough time and relevant expertise to challenge an answer, rather than simply approve it.
Measure the work, not the excitement
Compare the time spent generating, checking and correcting an output with the existing approach. A convincing demonstration is a beginning; a useful service must work reliably in the team’s everyday routine.
Illustrative photograph: Kari Shea / Unsplash.
