One ancient line and a very modern question. This Yom Kippur, more than ever before, we must account for the way we use AI in our business dealings.

Recently, as a test, I handed an AI tool a PDF containing several hundred of my blog posts. I asked it to count how often I had used positive words against negative ones, broken down by period. Back came a very polished analysis using charts and tables that looked extremely persuasive.

Having spent a career analysing data, advising clients on business issues and reviewing other people’s numbers, something smelled funny.

I asked whether it was certain the figures were correct. “Of course,” it said. So I went old-school. I opened the source material in Word, picked a few words including “good”, and pressed Ctrl F.

The numbers were different. I challenged it again, and eventually it admitted that it had used theoretical data.

Because I had never specifically instructed it to use the actual data. I had given it the actual data. It had not occurred to me that I also needed to ask it to use the data I had given it. Had an employee offered me that explanation, it would have been a short meeting.

It is a tiny example, and no doubt somebody will explain what I should have typed into the prompt. But that misses the point entirely. The machine made the error. Publishing it unchecked would have been my decision, and the ‘lie’ would have been mine. The Apple Mac doesn’t do Yom Kippur. I do.

Among the long list of sins we confess, striking our chests at each one, is a single........

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