The Best AI Is the One You Actually Use – But Are You Using It Right?
There’s a lot of talk about AI. Too much, maybe. Or actually, too little about the right things.
I keep hearing: “We have AI in use.” Then it turns out someone tried Copilot once three months ago and concluded “it didn’t really work.” Or that the organization held a one-day training session, after which everyone went back to doing things exactly as before.
That’s the problem. The best AI isn’t the most expensive, the newest, or the most technically sophisticated. The best AI is the one you actually use. And using it requires a lot more than a single training day.
Once Isn’t Enough
Using AI isn’t like learning to ride a bike. When you learn to cycle, the skill sticks. AI evolves constantly, and so do the ways you should use it. What worked last month might not be the best approach next month.
I get the problem. We’re busy. Really busy. And that busyness is exactly what makes change so hard. When you already have too much to do, how on earth do you find time to learn new tools?
But here’s the catch: if you don’t take time to learn, you won’t get the benefits. And if you don’t get the benefits, you’ll stay just as busy. Actually, busier, because your competitors are learning and you’re not.
The Golden Rule
There’s one simple metric for AI use: the time you spend with the AI plus the time you spend polishing its output needs to be less than the time it would take you to do the same work yourself from scratch.
If that doesn’t add up, you’re not using AI right. Or you’re not using the right AI. Or you’re not using it for the right things.
And there’s usually one reason for this: you haven’t learned to use it well enough.. Ja osaaminen ei synny yhdessä päivässä. Se vaatii arkeen kytkeytyvää oppimista, ei kerran vuodessa järjestettäviä koulutuksia tai pakollisia webinaareja.
Learning Never Stops
This is where I believe in continuous learning. I don’t mean annual training days or mandatory webinars. I mean continuous, organic learning that’s part of normal work.
Share tips. Share successes. Share failures which are often the most valuable. When someone finds a good way to use AI for something, tell others. When someone fails, share that too. Both are learning.
An organization needs to be in a state where it can evolve all the time. Not once a year at strategy days, but every day in small steps.
The Difficulty of Change
I understand that change is hard. Especially when you’re already good at what you do. Why learn a new way to do something when you already know how to do it well the old way?
Because the world is changing. And if you don’t change with it, you’ll fall behind. That sounds like a cliché, but it’s true.
This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about wanting to be good at your job in the future too. And in the future, a good professional knows how to use AI. Not because it’s mandatory, but because it makes work better, faster, and more interesting.
So What Should You Do?
Don’t try to learn everything at once. Pick one thing you do often. Then try whether AI could help with it. Give yourself time to fail. Give yourself time to learn.
And above all: share that learning with others. One person learning something is good. A whole team learning something is better. A whole organization learning continuously is a competitive advantage.
The best AI is the one you use. But to use it well, you need to be willing to learn. Continuously.
And yes, that’s hard. But then again, most things worth doing are.
