Can we start normalizing "I used AI"?

Quick scope-check before you come for me. This post isn't about AI as an existential crisis or whether it's good or bad for humanity. I'll leave that debate for another day.

Let’s be honest, most small businesses are using AI and pretending they're not. I want to talk about it and what to do instead.

Let's start the conversation with the last time you were on a plane. And the pilot who likely used autopilot (I originally had ghostwriting as an analogy, but Claude astutely flagged that autopilot was a stronger argument).

So, autopilot.

It flies large stretches of every commercial flight. Actually, flies the plane. Nobody says "a machine flew that flight" like it's a gotcha, and no pilot has ever felt the need to announce it before landing. The pilot is still the one trained, licensed, and fully accountable for getting everyone there safely. The technology does real work and the human stays responsible for the outcome.

I think AI in business belongs in that same category. The line isn't "did a tool do some of the work.” It’s mostly "is a person still accountable for what came out the other end."

That's really what “normalizing AI" comes down to: not admitting a tool did some of the work, like it's evidence against you.

Here's where I'll agree with the skeptics: AI slop is a real problem, and so is security. Low-effort, unedited content flooding every feed is bad for trust. And sensitive client data has no business going into a general AI tool without knowing exactly where it lands. Both are real. Neither is a reason to avoid the conversation.

To be clear, I'm not here to tell you AI is mandatory. I'm making the case that using it isn't something to hide. What you decide next is entirely yours.

As I write this, I think the real question isn't "should we use it." It's "have we actually decided (on purpose) or are we just avoiding the conversation."

That's what I want small businesses actually confronting right now.

Have the conversation. Take a position. Then actually act on it.

Decide AI isn't for your business? Totally fine, but say so out loud, put it in writing, and make sure the rule isn't a mystery to your team.

Decide AI is for your business? Also great — but don't just hand people a tool and hope. Train them on it. Normalize it. Help them get genuinely good at using it.

But have the conversation. Stop shying away from it like it's a dirty secret.

I use AI every day in my business. I won't pretend otherwise, and I won't apologize for it either. What I stand behind, every time: the confidentiality, the due diligence, the expert judgment behind whatever goes out under my name or my clients' names.

I encourage you to do the same.