How to create AI principles for your team
Read the original post on SNP Communication’s LinkedIn as part of the AI Edition of “OH SN*P.
Oh look, it’s another article about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it’s going to impact your life. (Have your eyes glazed over yet?)
Look, we know there’s a lot of noise out there with AI and understandably, a lot of questions…How seamlessly does it really work? How will it impact my business? Will it take my job one day? When will I be praying to my robot overlords? Your team may already be asking you some of these questions.
The truth is concrete answers are few and far between for all of us. But, you can’t let a lack of information or understanding keep you from leading your team or organization.
Start by establishing your AI Principles––the rules of the road for your team to operate in, as AI continues to develop.
Here are 5 steps to help you determine your company’s AI principles:
1. Do your research and leverage collective intelligence:
While AI is still a work in progress, there are definitely plenty of resources to help you get started. Follow reputable AI sources like news outlets, journals, and research hub sources or social media sources (ex: AI News, ArXiv - Preprint Research). Join online communities discussing AI like Reddit's r/MachineLearning and r/ArtificialIntelligence. Tap into your team here too. Many may already be experimenting with AI and have information or examples that can help add tangible perspective. What’s important here is gaining context before making decisions.
2. Go back to your values
The work you do as a whole should be built on your values, from start to finish. And your AI principles should be too. Discuss how your values guide your approach and actions. For example, if one of your values is accountability a potential principle may be, “We use AI tools to check our work, but we always ensure that a human takes the last look. If a mistake pops up after the fact, we own it and don’t blame the computer.”
3. Demystify AI's purpose
Clearly define AI’s role within your company. Whether you use it as an idea generator, fact checker, virtual assistant, etc. knowing AI’s purpose in your company, team, or workflow is key for a positive and transparent culture that empowers teams rather than creates redundancies
4. List out the rules based on scenarios
High-level rules are great as a starting point, but when your team is on the ground doing the work, understanding the real-life applications may get a little murky. Create a comprehensive list of guidelines that outline how AI should be used to give your team members a place to start. These rules will provide a framework for AI implementation and encourage ethical and responsible practices.
5. Keep an open dialogue
The landscape of AI is ever-changing, don’t pretend to be an expert, and don’t see these principles as static. Regularly revisit and adapt your AI principles and encourage your team to let you know what is and isn’t working.
At the end of the day, we don’t know how your organization or team should or shouldn’t use AI. But, we do know that not engaging in the AI conversation will leave your company feeling antiquated before you can even finish saying that word (phew, it’s a long one). AI is here. You have to set the tone for your team.
Curious how our co-founder Renn Vara is thinking about AI? Read the blog here.
