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Thoughtful Comics
When Is AI The Wrong Tool For The Job?
When exact rules, serious consequences, sensitive data, or accountable decisions call for a different approach.
The takeaways
- 01Use fixed rules for exact calculations when an error would be costly.
- 02Pause for exactness, serious consequences, sensitive data, or accountable judgment.
- 03AI may help prepare high-risk work, but a responsible person makes the decision.
- 04Check task risk and ownership before deciding to use AI.
Read this comic as text
Reader Could I let AI calculate this exact deduction every month?
Robot A deterministic calculation is safer when the rule is fixed and errors are costly.
Takeaway: Use fixed rules for exact calculations when an error would be costly.
Reader What should make me pause before using AI?
Robot Pause when the task demands exactness, carries serious consequences, exposes sensitive data, or requires accountable judgment.
Takeaway: Pause for exactness, serious consequences, sensitive data, or accountable judgment.
Reader Can AI still help with a high-risk task?
Robot Often it can assist with preparation, but it should not replace the responsible decision-maker.
Takeaway: AI may help prepare high-risk work, but a responsible person makes the decision.
Reader Before using AI, I will check the task's risk and who remains accountable.
Robot That is better than using AI simply because it is available.
Takeaway: Check task risk and ownership before deciding to use AI.
- Deterministic logic
- Fixed rules that produce the same result from the same input.
- Accountability
- Clear responsibility for a decision and its consequences.
- Risk tier
- A category describing how much harm an AI failure could cause.
- Human-in-the-loop
- A workflow in which a person reviews, approves, or intervenes in AI-assisted work.