W L
BUSINESS
USING AI IS EASY. USING IT WELL IS THE SKILL
BY NIK ELLIS
Most people have now tried AI. Some were impressed. Some were underwhelmed. A few asked it a question, got a slightly odd answer, and quietly decided the whole thing was overhyped. All of those reactions are fair, but miss the point.
Accessing AI is easy, but getting something genuinely useful out of it is where the difference starts to show. If two people pick up the same drill, one puts up a neat, level shelf. The other hits a pipe, floods the kitchen, and learns where the stopcock is under pressure! Same tool, very different outcome. Not a technical gap, more behavioural.
AI Isn’ t Google Search
One of the biggest reasons people struggle with AI is that they treat it like a search engine. Short question in; expectation of a perfect answer out.
That works reasonably well for Google, because it’ s returning a trillion links. AI doesn’ t work like that. It generates a response based on what you ask it, and how you ask it. If the context, the input is vague, the output will be too. n“ Write me something about marketing” will give you exactly what you asked for. Unfortunately, that’ s also the problem.
It’ s Very Good at the Wrong Thing
A useful way to think about it is this: AI is very good at answering the question you asked, rather than the one you meant. Take a simple instruction like:“ Make this email sound more professional.” What comes back is usually polished, structured, and technically correct.
The only issue is that“ more professional” has quite a wide range. Somewhere between“ slightly clearer” and“ written by someone who refers to emails as correspondence.” So a message that started as:“ Hi, got your message, will sort it.” can quietly become“ Dear Sir / Madam, I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence and will endeavour to resolve the matter in due course.”
Which is undeniably professional. It’ s also how you accidentally upgrade a casual exchange into Victorian-era solicitor speak!
What Using It Well Actually Looks Like
This is the part that tends to get skipped; what to do after the first answer comes back looking confident, well-written, but completely not what they meant. Using it well isn’ t technical. It’ s mostly about not treating the first answer as the finished product. If you ask:“ Write me a customer email about a delay”
You’ ll get something polite, structured, and completely lacking in any detail the customer might actually need. So you adjust it:“ Make it clearer, include a reason, keep it friendly”
It improves. Then:“ Shorten it”. Now it’ s usable.
The difference isn’ t the tool. It’ s the fact you stayed in the conversation for more than one round. Some people treat AI like a vending machine. Put request in, expect finished product out, but it’ s closer to someone enthusiastic but slightly literal, who will do exactly what you ask, even if what you asked wasn’ t quite right. Which is how you end up with content that looks polished but somehow says very little, like a meeting where everyone nodded, nobody disagreed, and somehow nothing actually happened.( That’ s why politicians love it!)
Using it properly is less about asking better questions, and more about giving clearer direction. You provide context, you explain what“ good” looks like, and you adjust it when it misses the mark. In other words, you treat it less like a search engine, and more like briefing someone who’ s keen to help but needs a bit of guidance to get there.
Why This Matters
Everyone has access to to cheap AI now, but the advantage is in how it’ s used. Two businesses can have the same tools open in front of them. One asks a question, gets something average, and carries on. The other refines it slightly, improves it, and ends up with something genuinely useful. It’ s not a dramatic difference, but over time, those small improvements stack up. Things get done a bit quicker, communication becomes a clearer, admin takes less effort. In most businesses, that’ s exactly where the pressure tends to sit.
A Small Shift That Adds Up
AI isn’ t difficult to access anymore, but what’ s starting to matter is how deliberately it’ s used. Not as a shortcut to avoid thinking, but as a way to remove the repetitive first-pass work that slows everything else down. Used carelessly, it muddies the picture. Used properly, it sharpens your focus. For most SMEs, that’ s usually the difference between staying on top of things, and slowly being buried by them. The issue isn’ t between businesses using AI and those that aren’ t. That gap is already closing.
The real differentiator is between those who get something useful out of it, and those who don’ t. Same tool. Very different outcomes.
Fancy a chat with a human? nik. ellis @ swiftcase. co. uk
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