Judge the outcome, not the technology
You do not need to know how a model works to know whether it solved your problem. Focus on the result: did it save time, was the output good enough, did it fit how you work. The technology is the vendor's job. The outcome is yours to judge, and you already know how to judge outcomes in your business.
Know your workflow better than any vendor
Your real advantage is that you understand your business and your customers. A clear picture of how the work actually flows, where the bottlenecks are, and what cannot go wrong is worth more than any technical knowledge. Vendors know their tool. You know your business. Good decisions come from the second one.
Ask plain questions and expect plain answers
You do not need jargon to evaluate a tool. Ask what it does, what it costs in full, where your data goes, and what happens if you stop using it. If a vendor cannot answer in plain language, that is information too. Clear answers are a sign of a tool and a partner worth trusting.
Know what to avoid
Half of good decision making is avoiding the obvious mistakes: buying before you have a clear problem, automating a messy process, putting sensitive data in the wrong place, and paying for overlap. None of that requires technical skill. It requires judgment, which you have, and a willingness to slow down.
The short version
- Judge AI by the outcome, not the technology.
- Your knowledge of the workflow beats technical detail.
- Ask plain questions and expect plain answers.
- Avoiding obvious mistakes is half the job.
- Good AI decisions are business judgment, not coding.