LESSON 01 / 06 · 8–10 MIN

Choose a useful first task

By Andrew Heldenmuth, founder and operator of Ascension AI.

What you will learn

Spot a small business task where AI can help and where you can judge the quality yourself.

The basics

Artificial intelligence is a broad name for software that performs tasks such as recognizing patterns, making predictions, or generating content. This course focuses on generative AI: tools that create text and other content from instructions.

For a business owner, useful starting points include drafting a routine reply, suggesting marketing ideas, or turning rough notes into a checklist. Pick a task with a clear result and low consequences if the first attempt is wrong.

AI can produce confident errors or unfair assumptions. It may leave out something important. Keep a person responsible for decisions and for reviewing anything that leaves the business. These risks are described in NIST’s Generative AI Profile.

For your first trial, avoid legal conclusions, tax decisions, hiring decisions, safety instructions, and promises involving money. Those need appropriate expertise and stronger checks.

Five minute exercise

1. Spend one minute listing three repetitive tasks in your own business. Use broad descriptions only, and keep the list on paper for now.
2. Spend two minutes trying the prompt below, then run it again with your three tasks in place of the bicycle shop’s. Keep your descriptions broad.
3. Spend two minutes choosing a task whose result you can check without extra research or specialist advice.

Copy this prompt

I own a fictional neighborhood bicycle repair shop.
Three recurring tasks are drafting appointment replies, brainstorming maintenance tips for social posts, and organizing opening-shift notes.

Suggest one small way an AI chatbot could help with each task.
For each, state the output I would receive and what a person must check.
Recommend the easiest task to try first and explain why.
Do not estimate revenue or promise time savings.
Keep the answer under 200 words.

Takeaway

Completion check