What AI Won't Do For Your Business

Everywhere you turn in the business world right now, the conversation is about what AI can do and how it’s supposedly going to replace entire departments. But when I listen to all the big promises being made about AI, I’m struck by how little most people really understand about how it works. So let’s pause for a moment and talk about what AI is not going to do.

If you think about it, computers have been handling boring, repetitive tasks and calculations since they were invented. We used to write invoices by hand—then computers took that over. We used to thumb through a Rolodex to find a phone number—then CRMs made that a one-click exercise. Now we have AI that can draft emails, write blog posts, and even build polished presentations—often in seconds. But what AI will not do is deliver what I see as the most important ingredient in business success: truly original ideas.

Original ideas are the core fuel for business growth. AI can surface, summarize, and remix more data than any human ever could, but it still can’t generate genuine originality. Sure, you can crank out blog posts at scale, but isn’t most of that content just a rehash of what’s already been said? If everything you publish sounds interchangeable, eventually your audience will stop paying attention, because there’s nothing new for them to discover.

So as you look at bringing AI into your business processes—which I strongly encourage—aim to use it for the routine, creativity-draining work. Just don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s human creativity and fresh thinking that actually drive growth. AI can amplify your ideas, but it can’t replace them.