A few years ago, "AI consultant" told you something about a person, but presently, it tells you almost nothing because almost anyone can claim it. Take a weekend course, learn a handful of prompts, add the line to a bio, and the title is yours. There is no license to lose, no board to answer to, and more importantly, there is no standard anyone has to meet before taking a business owner's money.
That is why I have been stepping back from the title. While the work I do is real, the "AI Consultant" label itself has stopped meaning anything, and I would rather be described by what I actually do than by a phrase that can mean a number of different things.
I do not advise
When I hear the word consultant, I picture someone who sits across a table, listens for an hour, hands over a set of recommendations, and leaves. While that is a legitimate way to work, it is not the way I work. For me, the work I do is meaningful. The meaningfulness is present in the way I get my hands into the processes, from diving in before the talk about bringing AI takes place to get a thorough understanding of what the client wants.
I naturally enjoy strategizing, helping people come up with solutions they did not know existed or even thought of, and while AI does a large part of that process, I still very much prefer the human touch.
For me, being able to build something is not the same as that thing being necessary, and a business owner deserves to hear the difference from the person they hired.
Where my standards come from
I have been hesitant to bring this part into my business writing. In part, because it feels like a vastly different life, and I worried it would read as off topic. However, I have come to believe it is the most relevant thing about how I work.
Before Obsidian Rising, I spent my career in the criminal justice system. I worked at the federal level, in state corrections, in hospital violence intervention and in spaces on public health and public safety. I co-created a reentry court program that later received a national award. I facilitated batterer intervention groups, which meant reading police reports and sitting in a room challenging the men who wrote themselves out of them. I worked extensively with crime victims and offenders.
In that work, a flawed process was not just an inconvenience. In these types of spaces, attention to detail mattered. Broken systems increased risk, and internal operations required daily attention. So, you learn to ask a specific set of questions about every system you touch: What happens when this fails? Who absorbs the failure, and is that person in a position to recover from it?
Today, I ask those same questions about AI; from agentics and automations to governance and its impact on society. While the subject matter has changed, the discipline has not.
Boundaries - My Favorite Word!
A consultant worth hiring has limits they can name without stalling. Here are mine.
A human stays in the loop. There are processes that can be done autonomously, while others should not. I evaluate what the process is, what the chain of command looks like, what happens if the AI integration does not get it right, and how it can impact the business. This is why I always advocate for the human-in-the-loop model. Though not always widely accepted, it is still very much a necessity.
Autonomous agents do not belong in every part of a business. An autonomous agent is software that takes action on its own without asking first. However, for decisions involving money, employment, legal exposure, private information or anyone's safety, I will not recommend it. Speed does not guarantee safety.
If someone tells you AI can handle all of your processes, they have already told you what you need to know. The person you want is the one who can explain, without defensiveness, why a specific piece of your operation should stay in human hands.
Still working on the title
I do not have a perfect replacement for the title yet. "AI Operations Strategist" gets closer to the mark, and "AI Operations Architect" is not bad either, since much of what I do is deciding where a thing belongs and where it does not. What matters more than the word is the order of operations: understanding the business first and helping business owners decide honestly where a machine helps and where it causes harm.
The title is crowded. The standard is not. Hire for the standard.
Are You a Business Owner Ready to Use AI Responsibly?
If you are trying to figure out where AI actually belongs in your business — and just as importantly, where it does not — let's talk. Schedule a call with me and we will look at your operation honestly, standard first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the title "AI consultant" meaningless today?
A few years ago, calling yourself an AI consultant told you something about a person. Today it tells you almost nothing, because almost anyone can claim it. Take a weekend course, learn a handful of prompts, add the line to a bio, and the title is yours. There is no license to lose, no board to answer to, and no standard anyone has to meet before taking a business owner's money.
What is the difference between an AI consultant and how you actually work?
A consultant, in the traditional sense, sits across a table, listens for an hour, hands over a set of recommendations, and leaves. That's a legitimate way to work, but it isn't how I work. I get my hands into the process itself, diving in before any conversation about AI takes place to get a thorough understanding of what the client actually needs — being able to build something is not the same as that thing being necessary.
Why does a human need to stay in the loop with AI in a business?
Some processes can be done autonomously, and others should not be. Before recommending automation, I evaluate what the process is, what the chain of command looks like, what happens if the AI integration doesn't get it right, and how that failure would affect the business. The human-in-the-loop model isn't always the fastest option, but speed does not guarantee safety.
Should autonomous AI agents handle every part of a business?
No. An autonomous agent is software that takes action on its own without asking first. For decisions involving money, employment, legal exposure, private information, or anyone's safety, I will not recommend it. If someone tells you AI can handle all of your processes, they have already told you what you need to know about them.
What should a business owner look for when hiring someone for AI help?
Look past the title. The person worth hiring can name their limits without stalling, and can explain — without defensiveness — why a specific piece of your operation should stay in human hands. The title is crowded. The standard is not. Hire for the standard.