When is AI the right tool for the job, and when should I use something else?

Answered

Decide using judgement: AI helps with summarising, themes, drafting support and idea generation, but struggles with high-accuracy or context-heavy decisions. Prefer augmentation over replacing judgement, and use a simpler non-AI tool when it would work just as well.

From the guidance

Primary (how) AI Knowledge Hub: Using AI at work

AI is good at: summarising long documents; finding common themes across multiple documents; suggesting improvements to drafts you've written; restructuring or reformatting existing content; generating initial ideas or options to consider. AI struggles with: tasks that need high accuracy; understanding your specific context or organisational priorities; making decisions that need professional judgement; providing current information unless you give it the latest sources.

Section: When to use AI

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Secondary (normative) AI Knowledge Hub: 10 principles for using AI

Choose the most appropriate technology for your needs. Be open to AI solutions, but always consider if the problem could be solved more easily with traditional or simpler technologies.

Section: Use the right tool for the job

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Secondary (normative) AI Playbook for the UK Government

However, you should also be open to the conclusion that, sometimes, AI is not the best solution for your problem: it may be more easily solved with more established technologies.

Section: Principle 6: You use the right tool for the job

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