The Noise Problem
So many people selling AI answers that it's hard to tell good help from bad.
The lines under "How it sounds" are typical phrasing we wrote, not quotes from clients or interviews.
How it sounds
- “Every week there's a new tool I'm supposed to be behind on.”
- “Three vendors told me their AI employee replaces a hire.”
- “I watched a video that said we should automate everything.”
What it looks like
The owner gets AI pitches every day, reads advice that contradicts itself and sees peers posting about their wins. The leadership team can't agree, partly because each person is hearing different noise. Decisions get made on the last demo anyone saw, or get put off until things settle down.
Why it happens
The market moves fast and claims are cheap. With AI, the whole market can feel like a mystery to an owner, and there's rarely someone with no product to sell who can sort it for them.
What it costs
- In the Chamber and Ipsos survey, 41% of small business workers said "it is unclear how AI applies to their specific business."
- A head of procurement quoted in MIT NANDA's report: "I receive numerous emails daily claiming to offer the best GenAI solution. Some have impressive demos, but establishing trust is the real challenge." That buyer works at a large company, and owners of small ones get the same emails.
- We don't have a dollar figure for noise, so the cost is our reasoning: delay, and tools bought on the strength of a demo (see The Tool Pile).
Where it shows up
Noise is what fills the plan when busy leaders own AI part time. In AI by Department, it turns into recency: the plan follows whatever each head heard about last.
First move
Before the next demo, write down the three business problems you'd pay to solve this year. Judge every pitch against that list, and say no to anything that doesn't touch one of the three.
The fifteen patterns, with what each one costs and a first move, are in The AI anti-pattern field guide.
Related AI patterns
- AI by Department. Every department head owns AI for their area, and nobody owns how it fits together.
- The Tool Pile. Every tool made sense when you bought it. Together they don't add up to a plan.
- The Unsaid Option. The hardest AI options never get said out loud inside the company.
An AI strategy decides who owns the work, which tools stay, and what changes first.