Buying AI tools for staff is just one approach Management consultants love a two-by-two matrix. This one is odder than most, because the part that matters is a diagonal. AI tools sit in the top-right corner: assistants for research, writing, coding and analysis, used mainly by individuals and teams doing knowledge work. Decision systems are in the bottom-left are: mechanisms that help run processes across a business and shape choices made by senior managers. Both may use similar AI models....

The danger isn’t that AI takes over, it’s that humans will stop bothering The take-over by AI, when it comes, may be remarkably dull. No wild-eyed robots storming Parliament or screens suddenly going blank in City trading rooms. No superior computer will announce that mankind has been relieved of its duties. Artificial intelligence doesn’t need to take control for humans to lose it. It’s much more likely that a chain of small, sensible choices will get us there. Arguably, it’s already...

Learning will make them more different Same, same, same, everywhere AI is being sold aggressively, the costs are falling like a stone, and so it’s getting everywhere. Stanford University reported that inference cost at roughly GPT-3.5 quality dropped more than 280-fold between November 2022 and October 2024. So it’s not surprising that most businesses have it in one form or another. Having AI isn’t different. That’s not all that’s getting rather “me too”. For all practical purposes, AI models...