What should you ask before hiring someone to build AI for your business?
Before hiring someone to build AI for your business, ask who owns what is built, what data is sent to which companies, who reviews the output before customers see it, how you switch it off yourself, how it was tested on your real examples, and who maintains it afterward. A clear, written answer to each is a good sign. Vague answers are a reason to keep looking.
Who owns it, and who holds the accounts
Ask in writing who owns the finished work, the instructions and settings that make it behave the way it does, and every account it runs under. Where possible, the accounts for the AI service and for hosting should be in your name, not the builder's. If the builder leaves, you should still be able to log in. The related answer on who owns software built for your business covers the ownership rules.
Where your data goes
The related answer on putting customer information into ChatGPT covers why sharing customer details with an outside company deserves a deliberate decision. Put these questions to the builder.
- What customer or business information does the system read or receive?
- Which outside companies receive it, and where is it stored?
- Does any provider keep it, or use it to train its own models?
- Who at the builder's company can see it?
- Can you have it deleted when the work ends?
Human review and the off switch
Ask which outputs a person checks before a customer sees them, and what the system does when it is unsure. Ask how you can pause or turn it off yourself, without calling the builder, and whether you can see a record of what it did. The related answer on AI agents suggests starting with a narrow job and checking a sample of its work each week at first.
Testing on your real examples
A demo built on made-up examples proves little. Give the builder a set of your own past emails, calls or jobs, including the awkward ones, and ask to see the results before launch. Agree on what counts as passing, and ask what happens when the system meets a case it has not seen. Mistakes are often more likely on unusual cases than on typical ones.
Who maintains it
AI tools and the services they rely on change over time. Ask who watches for errors after launch, who makes updates, what happens if the builder becomes unavailable, and whether the documentation would let someone else take over. Get the answers in the agreement. Ascent Vision builds AI systems and does not publish prices, so these questions apply to it as well.
Related answers
- Who owns software that was built for your business?
- Is it safe to put customer information into ChatGPT or another AI tool?
- What is an AI agent, and should a small business use one?
AI systems and automation
A lot of an owner's week goes to the same tasks: answering the same questions, chasing the same follow-ups, retyping the same details. We build the systems that do that work, so your people can spend their time on customers.