If The Answer Is AI, What’s The Question?

As AI adoption accelerates, organisations are under increasing pressure to identify opportunities, develop strategies and demonstrate progress. In some cases, that urgency can lead to conversations that start with the technology rather than the challenge it is intended to address.

During our conversation, Dr Nicola Millard offered a simple question that helps reverse that thinking.

The quote stood out because it challenges an assumption that appears surprisingly often in technology discussions.

New tools arrive, excitement builds, and organisations begin exploring potential use cases. Before long, conversations can become focused on where AI might fit, what it can do and how quickly it can be deployed.

The risk is that the technology becomes the starting point.

Nicola’s question turns that thinking around. Instead of beginning with AI, it begins with the problem. What are we trying to improve? What challenge are we solving? What outcome are we hoping to achieve?

That does not mean AI is the wrong answer. In many cases, it may be exactly the right one. But when technology becomes the strategy, organisations can find themselves implementing solutions before they have fully understood the problem.

The most successful technology projects are rarely driven by the technology alone. They are driven by a clear understanding of what people are trying to achieve.

As AI becomes more widely available, Nicola’s question may become increasingly useful.

If the answer is AI, what’s the question?