Part 4 · Using software and AI · Chapter 4.12
What AI is and isn't
Draft: the wording may change.
The idea
Treat AI like the new trainee clerk: quick, polite, tireless, writes good English and Tamil — and in his first month, sometimes wrong while sounding completely sure. You give him the routine work, you check what he hands back, and you never let him sign a cheque.
What it actually does
The AI in today's office tools has read a huge amount of text. From that it has learnt which words usually follow which. Ask it a question and it writes the answer that sounds most likely. Most of the time the likely answer is also the right one. Sometimes it is not, and the wrong answer reads exactly as smoothly as the right one.
That one fact explains both its strength and its danger:
| It is good at | It is weak at |
|---|---|
| Writing a polite letter in a minute | Knowing today's GST rate or due date |
| Turning English into Tamil and back | Arithmetic over many lines |
| Reading a photo of a bill or price list | Knowing your customers, unless you show it |
| Summarising a long circular | Saying "I don't know" |
| Spotting odd patterns in a list | Taking responsibility for a decision |
It does not "know" your business. It only knows what is in front of it — the photo, the list, the question you typed — plus general knowledge that may be out of date.
At the counter
The office clerk photographs a company price list and asks the AI to make a table of products and rates. In ten seconds there is a neat table of forty lines. Thirty-nine are right. On one line it has read ₹48.50 as ₹46.50, because the photo was taken at an angle and the 8 was half in shadow.
Nothing in the table looks different. No warning, no question mark. If that rate goes into the price master, every bill for that product is ₹2 short per piece. On 600 pieces a month, that is ₹1,200 lost before anyone notices — and the retailer will not complain.
A new trainee clerk makes the same kind of slip. You don't sack him for it. You check his first hundred entries, then spot-check, and you never let him change prices alone. Do the same with AI.
What AI is not
- Not a calculator. For totals, use the software or a calculator. AI can write a plausible total that is off by a few rupees.
- Not a tax adviser. Rates, thresholds and due dates change. Check the current figure on the official portal or ask your auditor.
- Not a decision-maker. It can say "these 12 outlets haven't ordered in 45 days". It cannot decide which of them to give more credit.
- Not a safe place for secrets. What you paste into a public AI tool leaves your office (chapter 4.18).
Common mistake
Trusting it more because it writes well. A clerk who writes in perfect English with neat formatting looks careful, so people stop checking. AI always writes neatly. Neat is not the same as correct, and the mistakes it makes — a wrong digit, an invented rule, a confident date — are the hardest kind to see.
Where you'll use this
Every AI chapter that follows uses this picture. The rule underneath them all is from Part 1: every entry starts with a document (chapter 1.2). AI can read the document and suggest the entry, but the document is still the evidence and a person still approves the entry (chapter 4.17).
Check yourself
- Why can a wrong AI answer be harder to catch than a wrong answer from a person?
- Name two jobs you should not hand to AI.
- AI reads a rate as ₹46.50 instead of ₹48.50 on a product that sells 600 pieces a month. How much is lost each month if no one checks?
Answers
- It writes the wrong answer just as smoothly and confidently as the right one, with no sign of doubt.
- Any two of: final arithmetic, current tax rates and due dates, decisions such as credit limits, holding confidential data.
- ₹2 × 600 = ₹1,200 a month.