Most AI Automation builders make the same mistake:they try to automate everything.
That’s not advanced.That’s dangerous.
A key consulting skill is knowing which decisions must stay human.
Here’s a simple rule you should use during AI discovery:
Never automate decisions that are:
- IrreversibleIf a wrong decision can’t be undone, AI should not own it.
- Low-frequency but high-impactRare events with serious consequences don’t give AI enough feedback to learn safely.
- Politically sensitive inside the organizationPromotions, penalties, pricing exceptions, client rejection.These are not technical problems. They are trust problems.
What beginners do wrong:
- They show clients “what AI can do.”
- They don’t explain “what AI should not do.”
That creates false expectations.And false expectations kill long-term projects.
What you should do instead:
- Classify decisions into: AI-owned, human-owned, AI-assisted.
- Design escalation paths before you build the automation.
- Say “no” early. It increases trust, not resistance.
If you want to move from builder to advisor,your value is not in how much you automate.
It’s in how safely you decide where automation stops.