It’s impossible not to be bombarded these days with articles, ads, and webinars about adapting an artificial intelligence tool in one or several of your business processes.

As tempting as it is to deal with your FOMO or empty your wallet for this magic bullet, you need to establish your rationale and proper guardrails before going down this path.

First, you should establish use cases and define output types. Then, you can determine the ROI to implement and turn your attention to  piercing questions that must be answered by IT vendors and your IT team regarding successful adaptation of AI tools.

We have seen no better summary of this topic than that provided by Shauna Weatherly, a former contracting officer and procurement policy expert who opened her own shop, FedSubK. For those of us who’ve spent our work lives on the industry side, Shauna tells it like it is with remarkable clarity from the government contracting perspective. For example, her post on The Rule of Two delves into the details of small business set-asides.

When it comes to adding AI tools to your proposal process, she recommends that you ask the following key questions before beginning the AI journey:

• What AI technology is the tool wrapped in (i.e., OpenAI, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude by Anthropic, etc., none of these or a combination)?
• What measures does the AI tool provider have in place to ensure the security of user data?
• Is data encrypted during storage and transmission?
• How does the AI tool provider handle user data?
• Are they transparent about data collection, processing, and sharing practices?
• Does the AI tool comply with relevant regulations and standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or industry-specific requirements?
• What steps does the AI tool provider take to address bias and ensure fairness in algorithms and decision-making processes?

Learn more about Shauna’s thoughts on evaluating your business readiness to use AI tools, as well as the best steps for implementing them here.