Before Adopting an AI Tool, Define the Job
A practical way to move from an impressive demonstration to a useful evaluation.
A demonstration shows what an AI tool can do in one setting. Choosing whether to use it requires a more specific question: what job should it perform, and how will you know whether it performs that job well? A fluent answer alone is not a complete evaluation.
NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework offers organisations a voluntary approach to considering trustworthiness in the design, development, use and evaluation of AI systems. Its Generative AI Profile addresses risks particular to generative systems. Neither document is a certification that an individual tool is suitable for your task.
For a small trial, define the input, desired output and check. If the job is to summarise a public report, select a passage you can verify. Compare the summary with the original: did it preserve the numbers, conditions and uncertainty? Record missing qualifications as well as obvious errors. This is an example evaluation exercise, not a complete application of the NIST framework.
Then consider the workflow. Who checks the result? What happens when the output is wrong? Would you still save time after review? Avoid putting confidential material into a trial merely to make it realistic. The aim is to choose a useful tool for a defined task, with an appropriate review process.
Source & further reading
NIST: AI Risk Management Framework and Generative AI ProfileDefinitions and source context are attributed above. Illustrative examples and reading prompts are Dishantra’s own.
Prepared with AI-assisted research and writing. Sources support the attributed factual statements; explanatory framing and practical suggestions are Dishantra’s interpretation. No independent expert review is claimed. Editorial standards · Corrections & support
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