How AI Might Be Harming Your Business

Should you ban AI on Fridays?

It sounds like a joke. “Maybe we should just ban AI on Friday afternoons." But if you think about it more, there's some reasonable points to consider.

By Friday, most people are tired and running on fumes. The week's been busy, there are things to finish before the weekend, meaning attention to detail isn't always its sharpest. Now add AI into that mix, and that's where things really start to go downhill.

Why This Tool is so Widespread

Popular AI tools like Microsoft Copilot can draft emails, summarize documents, and generate responses in just seconds. Instead of setting aside time and sitting down to manually write an email, it takes less than a minute to throw a prompt into AI and receive a finished email response in return.

A tool that can complete a task for you almost instantly that would otherwise add on 15-20 minutes to your busy schedule is incredibly useful. When you have a large workload, using AI for a small task seems like a no-brainer to finish work quickly so you can move on to the next task.

As the technology for this tool is developing, so is the talk around it. AI exploded almost instantly after it's release, and it's understandable why. In an ever-growing world no one wants to be left behind from refusing to implement AI. And with it's ease of use, most have chosen to adopt AI into their toolkit with no questioning.

But AI introduces a subtle risk that most overlook. The output of artificial intelligence typically looks polished and ready to send. It pulls from previously written word sequences, so it seems like it should generate perfect results. When you’re tired, and ready to close out your computer for the week, it’s very easy to trust it without even giving it a second look.

When AI Falls Short

Automatically trusting products given by AI is where problems start to arise. While it can generate basic structure and sentences, artificial intelligence doesn't relate to humans in social aspects like through tone or personality. This means it can't formulate professional or emotion-specific messages.

Even when AI is commanded to write a message with a character specifically drawn out for it to mimic, it doesn't always carry through with the task correctly. Most of the time, it ultimately requires a human touch.

This can make small issues that slip through when no one’s paying close attention. The kind that later become something much larger. All it takes is an email that sounds a little off or a message that comes across the wrong way. Something that’s technically correct according to AI, but not appropriate or clear for the situation.

Another piece that most don't put much thought to, is the accuracy of AI. While AI is trained to grab information from the most credible sources, it isn't always correct. Artificial intelligence doesn't know the context or specific needs of your request.

Even worse, AI can be swayed by individuals trying to spread misinformation or attackers that really want access to your systems. Simply trusting and using what AI has given you diminishes your credibility and over time can leave major holes throughout your system data that can be hard to later locate and correct.

A small mistake like overlooking a messaging error from AI can mean losing client trust, missing important deadlines from miscommunication, and other harmful consequences that slowly chip away at the quality of your work and the reputation of your business.

It can be difficult to skim AI for errors if you haven't put much thought into the message, and the wrong details or tone can be even harder to spot when you’re rushing to finish the work week on a Friday afternoon.

How It's Affecting More Than Your Work

There’s something else going on with this that doesn’t get talked about enough. The more that we rely on AI to think for us, the less we challenge what it produces. Every time we grab the product of AI without thinking and use it as our own work, we miss out on the process of actually engaging with the task, being a part of the work that is made.

That can quickly dull critical thinking. Without challenging your technical and critical skills, there's no learning, and over time you slowly lose the ability to solve problems without the help of AI. Work obstacles that previously grew our abilities and deeper knowledge are being bypassed with AI. People spend less time relying on their own problem solving skills, and resort to searching for an answer much quicker.

And with the application of artificial intelligence in fixing complex problems, creativity is removed. Bridges are quickly mended by AI's common response where innovative solutions could have been invented.

Consulting AI first slowly becomes habit, especially when rushing through work after a long week. Instead of asking, “Is this right?” the default becomes, “That looks fine" when reviewing AI's products.

The Damage to Your Business Over Time

Across a team, over weeks and months, it can change how decisions are made. Employees start relying more on AI tools, and less on their teams or their own problem-solving skills. Relationships slowly become weaker as coworkers are less likely to collaborate over how to effectively build dynamic solutions to company-specific obstacles.

That means less team confidence and connection. Employees begin finding solutions alone through other means rather than from a second-opinion, and less checks are in place for work to be reviewed or improved.

People become detached from their work, and solutions become less engaging with the absence of a human hand in it, ultimately depleting businesses of their differential advantage to competitors.

Some people are starting to call this “AI fatigue”. Constantly interacting with AI tools, checking them, and relying on them can feel mentally draining, which defeats the purpose of using it out of convenience.

So, the idea of “no AI on Fridays” perhaps isn’t so out there. At the end of the week, people are more likely to skip checkpoint steps, less likely to question things, and more likely to hit send. And AI simply makes that easier. 

Productive AI Use

You don’t need to switch AI off entirely, but you do need to build intentional habits around it. Artificial intelligence shouldn't be something that you are afraid to use, it can be a great tool if used sensibly in the workplace.

Speak with teams that currently use AI, and see how they've found it helpful or harmful. Find the right AI tools for your business, as there are a variety of tools with different features and limits. It can be helpful to select a set of AI tools that are standard for your workplace to use, so collaboration and data is more fluid across systems.

Discussing what can be put into AI from a legal standpoint is important as well. Client data is often confidential and can't be entered into AI, so setting data barriers is something that should be done before it's implementation.

Encourage your team to review anything generated by AI before it goes out externally. Identifying specific review steps that check what it produces before going out is helpful. Especially emails, customer responses, or anything that represents your business. Make it a normal practice to sense-check the tone as well as the content. Employees that have a clear picture of guidelines are able to use AI more comfortably and responsibly.

AI is a great assistant, but it still needs a human in the loop. Especially at 4:30pm on a Friday.

Take Initiative of AI in the Workplace

The best way to promote efficient habits around AI is by talking about it early. Many believe that it will fade out, so it's not necessary to address. But the use of artificial intelligence is only going to continue growing as technology evolves.

Building a framework around AI use in your business isn't about making employees scared to use these tools, but so that they know how to use them correctly and in a way that can effectively add to your company.

So start conversations about the use of AI, choose the right tools for your needs, and build routines around it's use to get back in the drivers seat and ahead of this evolving tool.

If you’d like help creating some sensible rules around how AI is used in your business, get in touch.