Choose a useful first AI project.

Choose the task before the tool.

Describe one workflow and the assistance you want to provide. Finding an internal policy, organizing a set of documents, and drafting a summary are different tasks. Each needs its own examples and evaluation criteria.

Understand the information boundary.

Identify the material the system can use, whether it is appropriate for the task, and who is allowed to access it. Plan how information will be supplied, updated, and removed as part of the application design.

Define review and uncertainty.

Decide what the system should do when it lacks enough information. Make the review step explicit wherever output needs to be checked before action. A source reference can help a user inspect the underlying material, but the workflow still needs clear responsibility.

Evaluate with representative examples.

Use examples that reflect the intended task, including incomplete inputs and ambiguous requests. Record expected behavior, assess the outputs, and use the findings to decide whether the concept deserves further development.

Make the next investment conditional on evidence.

A prototype is a way to learn. Compare its behavior with the current workflow and the agreed criteria. The next step might be refinement, a small implementation, a different approach, or choosing conventional automation.