The Difference Between AI 'Powered' and AI 'Useful'

It is now trivial to add the words "AI-powered" to any feature. It costs nothing. It impresses investors. It is also, most of the time, a lie of omission.

The test

Ask the same question of the feature with the AI turned on, and the same question with the AI turned off. If the user can't reliably tell which is which, the AI is decoration.

Where AI is genuinely useful

Anywhere a human used to read free-form text and make a judgment call. Summarising. Routing. Tagging. Extracting structured fields from messy input. Drafting first replies. These tasks were genuinely hard before LLMs and are now genuinely easy. The improvement is unmistakable.

Where AI is decoration

A search bar that "uses AI" to do what BM25 has done well for thirty years. A form that "uses AI" to validate an email address. A recommendation engine that "uses AI" but actually just sorts by popularity. If the non-AI version of the feature was already good, the AI version is mostly a fundraising slide.

What to ask before adding AI to your own product

Three questions, in order.

1. What is the user trying to do?
2. What is currently the worst part of doing it?
3. Does AI make that specific part better in a way the user will feel?

If the answer to (3) is no, you don't have an AI feature. You have a press release.