AI is a journey, not a destination

AI is a journey, not a destination

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of associations talking about AI like it’s a moon shot. “We need an AI project.” “We’re rolling out AI in Q4.” That language suggests AI is something you implement once and then check off the list. It isn’t. AI is a journey, and treating it like a one‑time project is a mistake.

Think about any major system you’ve implemented. You didn’t flip a switch and instantly have perfect processes and fully trained staff. You started small, learned, adjusted, and built on what worked. AI should be handled the same way. Begin with low‑risk, practical uses: cleaning up copy, summarizing documents, drafting first‑pass emails or reports.

Over time, each department can identify where AI genuinely helps and where human judgment is still essential. Little by little, you’re building AI habits instead of chasing an “AI transformation.” And just like any other tool, if your underlying processes and data are bad, AI will only amplify the problem.

So don’t frame AI as a giant, capital‑P Project that belongs to IT. Treat it as an ongoing, organization‑wide journey. Ask one simple question: What’s a small, real task where AI could help this week? Start there, learn from it, and then take the next step.

=====

Author's note: The above was written entirely by AI. I fed dozens of my previous posts into Perplexity so that it could learn my "voice," then gave it a topic to write on. It's not exactly how I would have written this post, but I wanted to see how well it could perform, and I think it's not bad. But rest assured, this was only a test. This will be the last AI-generated post from me.

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

Motion vs. Action

August 26, 2020

Motion vs. Action One key to successful data management is understanding the difference between motion […]

There is ALWAYS a Trade-off

August 19, 2020

There is ALWAYS a Trade-off I’ve written many times about trade-offs (you can read a […]

Little by little, a little becomes a lot

August 12, 2020

Little by little, a little becomes a lot “Little by little, a little becomes a […]

Why do we treat data management differently?

August 5, 2020

Why do we treat data management differently? A recent post on ASAE’s community read: “Looking […]

Don’t Forget Your Speakers!

July 29, 2020

Don’t Forget Your Speakers! A phenomenon I’ve noticed over the years is that my clients will […]

90% of your data is never touched a second time

July 22, 2020

90% of your data is never touched a second time I heard recently on a […]

Newton’s First Law

July 15, 2020

Newton’s First Law Part of Newton’s First Law states that “…an object in motion stays […]

No System is Perfect

July 7, 2020

No System is Perfect While it may sound trite, it bears repeating that no data management […]

Data Accretes

July 1, 2020

Data Accretes One of my very first jobs in the association world was managing the production […]

Don’t be so lazy…

June 24, 2020

Don’t be so lazy… One of the things that attracted me to the software world […]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top