The cost of AI adoption.

AI adoption isn't cheap. Costs start in the thousands of dollars. It's easy to assume that with Claude or ChatGPT, you can do it yourself, and the results can convince people that they are now just as good as an expert developer. Until they start to dig a little deeper or try to use it in production.

AI amplifies what you already know.

Currently, we say AI can get you 80% of the way, and that is acceptable, or that AI is a tool that amplifies the user's current skill set. For example, if you have never done marketing, AI will make you 10x better than starting with nothing. But a master marketer with decades of experience using AI will make amazing content far beyond that.

AI is a help in the same way that Adobe Suite changed the manual and tedious process of graphic design, and the way email changed the system of sending telegrams, mail, and faxes. It is revolutionary, just like all those former technologies were, but it is not a miracle or a fix-all.

Using AI is not free.

That brings us to the cost of it all. Using AI is not free. The cost of data, power, processing, water, development, research, and time all add up to trillions of dollars. Even a small business can expect to spend big on AI and AI-powered services.

Costs are also high on the services side. Sure, a graphic designer can now do more with AI and move faster with AI, but the costs of doing so have gone up for them and for you. This is something to consider when you still need someone with skill and understanding of a topic.

AI can write you a webpage.

Remember, if you have no skill, AI will do something, but certainly not the same work as an expert. AI can write you a webpage, but only an expert can wire it all correctly, give it longevity, make sure it appears correctly for everyone, and make it secure, accessible, and legally sound.

These are the things missing from AI: the limited skill banks where one segment of a whole career is done, and it looks finished and polished.

You are paying for the assurance.

The true value of an AI-powered expert is that you have assurance that the job is done right and isn't a smoke screen that looks shiny but doesn't have the substance to hold up to scrutiny.

Don't undervalue the cost of good work just because AI can fake it. The results won't be the same. It is part of the unspoken work that goes into a person's skill set that AI can't emulate or even define.

If you are about to spend money on AI work and want to know whether it will hold up in production, OPZET can look at it before you commit.