The buzz around Generative AI has triggered a FOMO-fueled frenzy to implement AI-enabled workflows wherever possible. Whether it’s writing copy, generating imagery, producing scripts or optimizing media buys, a host of AI-enabled platforms can tackle the task. At best, AI enables creative teams to create more efficiently, ideate more freely and re-envision workflows in new ways.

But the technology also poses serious ethical issues of ownership, bias and misinformation and an as-yet-unclear path to make good on the billions invested in it. 

What’s missing amid the hoopla is a critical discourse not just around how we can use AI tools, but if and when. How can you determine whether jumping on the AI bandwagon is right for you? Here are four ways to get started:

Learn everything, but start small

The field is evolving rapidly, so constant re-education is required to make informed decisions. AI is a tool like any other. You wouldn’t use a sledgehammer to swat a fly, right? Take a hard look at how your teams function, what type of work they produce and whether there is a logical, modest point of entry to test AI tools before scaling up. 

One of the biggest challenges for adoption is not only budgeting for the initial fiscal outlay for the tech, but also providing for a hard-to-quantify reserve fund for the inevitable evolution of the landscape. Starting small helps you perform a controlled introduction of AI into your processes and provides a runway to keep an eye on the growth of the tech before attempting to implement at scale. If the fiscal risk is too high to afford a course-correction in the next 3-6 months, extend the timetable for a more all-in integration of AI.

Evaluate the risks

AI has prompted concerns about ethics and copyright as well as journalistic integrity and misinformation. There’s potential for not only legal exposure, but also a necessity for each of us to take a stance as creatives: Can we ethically use this technology if it is being trained on copyrighted materials of creatives without their consent? These serious questions soon will require public-facing positions from organizations, especially ones in our industries.

Embrace ‘augmented creativity’

The biggest hot buttons revolve around including final AI output in consumer-facing material. It might be helpful at this stage to use AI for “augmented creativity”—to streamline and accelerate the creative process performed by human artists, not as a component of final deliverables. This focus on efficiency and acceleration of process, as opposed to creative production, is already where some agencies are taking it and is likely more apropos for the state of the technology today.

The greater the risk of exposure and liability for your team and clients, the more important it is to move slowly as the technology matures.

Have human checks and balances

Proper governance and transparency of AI tool sets will help mitigate inevitable pitfalls of a nascent technology. AI is currently riddled with ethical and legal questions that only a human can navigate effectively. To keep human-centered guardrails in place, it’s important to recognize the technology’s capacity for bias and toxicity and to operate with a “do no harm” policy for your organization’s use of AI. 

You’ll also want to ensure that data collection and use is consensual; AI has run afoul of copyright issues. Being transparent about your use of AI and able to explain how and why you used it is also key. The technology is constantly evolving, so AI tools need to be rigorously vetted and regularly audited to ensure they meet your artistic, legal and ethical standards. 

Just because a technology is in use doesn’t mean it’s ready for prime time. AI has been a media darling, but creative leaders need to look beyond the hype to determine if AI is right for their process and internal needs and if it synergizes with the comfort level and requirements of clients and partners.