Five proven principles for AI adoption

A 5-principle checklist for evaluating any proposed AI initiative before greenlighting it. The principles come from a large wealth-management firm's two years of internal AI rollouts (23 services in production, low-eight-figures/year measured effect on chat alone) and are now used as a go/no-go filter on new pitches.

Each principle maps to a specific failure mode the firm paid for. Applying them costs nothing and kills 70% of AI initiatives that would otherwise burn six months before being quietly shelved. The "business owner required" principle alone saves entire pilots.

1. Add the five principles to your AI proposal template as required questions.
2. Block any pitch that can't name a business owner.
3. For "embedded vs standalone" debates, default to embedded. The burden of proof is on the standalone advocate.
4. Quarterly review of in-flight projects against principles 1, 2, 3; pivot or kill the violators.

• "We'll find an owner later" never happens. Make the business-owner sign-off a hard gate before any engineering hours are spent.