Why businesses need mainstream support to deploy AI in their operations

Those of you that know me will be aware I’m a proud northerner.

Been there (The Hacienda), got that (webbed feet), and bought the t-shirt (my favourite being the ACR:MCR tee, grey marl, day-glo orange print. I digress).

Possibly the best job I ever had - before larking around enthusiastically about AI - was supporting Manchester’s creative community and I’ll bang the drum about The North’s myriad charms to anyone that will listen. Just don’t talk to me about football, right?

But I read something that genuinely made me feel a bit worried recently about the North’s economic future, care of digital sector trade publication, Prolific North.

And yes, of course, it’s all about AI.

A stat that stopped me in my tracks

According to a new research paper by ANS (in association with YouGov), 37% of businesses in London are currently incorporating AI into some of their business practices…compared to just 18% of businesses in the North.

18%?

Crikey.

As a trusted colleague pointed out, the ratio is likely skewed by the dominance of larger companies headquartered in London; where AI initiatives might be mandated and deployed from a centralised business unit.

Which, in many ways, starts to make that stat even more sobering. Because companies that are ahead of the curve with integrating AI into their operations are ultimately going to see returns grow at a far faster rate than those not doing.

So, if 82% of companies in the North aren’t embedding AI in their operations…why exactly is that?

If I were to hazard a guess, based on two years of working with organisations of all sizes around AI, I’d maintain that training and knowledge on how to apply the tools in their operations simply aren’t available at scale.

Well, except with those I’ve worked with. (Cheeky wink emoji).

I often talk about the Sausage Blog conundrum when it comes to AI deployment. It’s full of sweeping generalisations, but it chimes with what I hear and experience in the field, so humour me.

It goes a bit like this:

• Board in a medium sized business (let’s say they’re a sausage factory) starts to feel strategic pressure to ‘do’ AI

• MD hasn’t really used it much, so passes task to marketing, ‘because it’s digital…’

• Marketing Director uses it to write a blog…about sausages…to ‘…see how it performs’

• The AI-authored sausage blog isn’t very good. Funnily enough

• Marketing director reports back to board about the ropey nature of the sausage blog

• A prevailing view of AI is formed: it’s not very good

• ❌ AI removed from board agenda

Where it’s going wrong with AI

Now, I’m a systems and process nerd. I’ve built and run successful businesses - and advised 100s - and for me, when we tidy up the backend to take the grunt out of our operations, we free up capacity in our people so they can get on delivering the value stuff they’re actually good at.

What are the pain points and the time killers? What are the operational activities we regularly repeat from scratch that really should be automated?

AI is a dream when used to support precisely those kinds of tasks.

But here’s the rub.

Unless someone’s guided you through these tools, in context to your business, you’re likely fumbling around applying it to the lowest hanging operational fruit you can find (or sausages) then judging the results of a phenomenally advanced and rapidly developing set of technologies based on the outputs…of - frankly - an offaly unfair assessment. Apologies.

I appreciate this might sound like me banging my own drum (guilty as charged), but let’s be clear: If companies outside London - and SMEs in particular - are going to close this worrying AI gap, AI support needs hard-wiring into the public sector business support infrastructure. Believe me, I’d be saying this if it wasn’t my field.

Of course, we can’t fix the whole system overnight. But if you want to get your own house (or sausage factory) in order, I can help.

If you’re serious about getting ahead

If you’re curious about AI, and want practical help making it work for your business, why not talk to me about THE AI ADVANTAGE: a range of workshops and services designed to fit where you’re at, whether that’s leadership strategy, team training, solving a real-world business challenge, or getting ongoing guidance.

Or all of the above.

Clients have called my sessions "the best workshops I’ve ever been on” and they’re designed to immerse you and your team in how to get the most of the tools, and how they can fit into your day-to-day operations.

Interested? Let’s have that chat, one-to-one.

Critical Thinking, Curiosity and Clarity: The Real Skills We Need in an AI World

Saturday morning. I’ve a fresh coffee in one hand and I’m trying desperately not to think about AI. Because, y’know…weekend.

I look up and there’s an interview on the BBC’s Breakfast programme on what schools should be doing to adapt to world where AI is becoming increasingly widespread.

Bang. My ‘not thinking about AI at the weekend’ thing went right out of the window the moment a question was directed at the interviewee.

“So what are the skills we need to prepare young people with, in order that they can thrive with AI.”

Now, I’m not entirely sure who the educational expert was (I know, I’ve normally got a rigorous attention to detail but, y’know….weekend), but I couldn’t help thinking their response was misinformed.

“We’re actually going to need more traditional skills like maths.”

[cue cappuccino exiting my mouth via my nostrils]

Maths? MATHS?

Maybe if you’re in the sub 1% of the UK involved in developing and shipping AI models. But what about every other member of the workforce that’ll be working with AI day-in, day-out?

Vast amounts of development costs haven’t been sunk into Large Language Models only to have them locked down for use by only the numerically gifted: the clue’s in the name.

Because, as the models advance and become ever more nuanced and capable, it strikes me that ‘technical’ proficiency becomes less and less important for the casual business user.

Forget Maths: Can You Frame the Problem?

In the first couple of months of 2025, we’ve seen ‘vibe coding’ explode: the notion that agentic coding platforms can muster up convincing web applications (and the like) from a couple of well-written prompts. And that feels like a natural continuum of the rate of change we’ve seen since ChatGPT-3.5 first dropped at the end of 2022. You start with the baby steps of HTML versions of Pong, but over time, the complexity of what’s possible ratchets up. Considerably.

So if it’s not maths that we need to be cultivating in the next generation, what skills will we need to thrive in a world powered by AI?

It's Not About Knowing Stuff. It's About Knowing What to Ask + Why You're Asking

At this point in the article, you’ll be almost as pleased as I am to find out there are “three c’s” (classic consultant chat) to consider. Uncanny.

C1: Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is going to be, erm, critical if we’re to grasp the opportunity of working with AI models. To me, this is about fully understanding the business challenges we’re trying to fix. How well do we truly understand the problem, what’s the context, what does a great outcome look like?

C2: Curiosity

Curiosity: what needs to happen to address the challenge - and what are the tools that might help us? Remember when there were four TV channels in the UK, and four ‘go to’ business tools (gee, thanks Microsoft) we used in the office? Things were simpler. But things were boring, too. AI brings not just a myriad platforms to bear, but a myriad ways we might interface with these tools. Could vision, video, or voice input help us solve our challenge in a completely new way?

C3: Clarity

Let me make this clear. Success won’t be found hiding behind corporate bull and waffle. Key word thinking is out, as are unstructured brain dumps (context dumps, on the other hand…). If you want good results out of your models, clarity is your super skill. How well can you articulate the problem you’ve thought critically about, and how well can you describe the creative solution you’ve envisaged? Simple, really, but clarity doesn’t come easy…

To me, if we can find ways to really develop those skills in the younger generation, we’ll truly capitalise on the opportunities that AI is opening up for all of us.

Of course, if you do need help with your maths, speak to my dog, the AI Maths Tutor…

If you’re serious about getting ahead

If you’re curious about AI, and want practical help making it work for your business, why not talk to me about THE AI ADVANTAGE: a range of workshops and services designed to fit where you’re at, whether that’s leadership strategy, team training, solving a real-world business challenge, or getting ongoing guidance.

Or all of the above.

Clients have called my sessions "the best workshops I’ve ever been on” and they’re designed to immerse you and your team in how to get the most of the tools, and how they can fit into your day-to-day operations.

Interested? Let’s have that chat, one-to-one.

ChatGPT's Quiet Evolution: A productivity suite in the making...?

The AI landscape is moving at speed. While it's easy to get distracted by newer, shinier models like DeepSeek and Grok3, for most businesses, the real battle isn't simply about the sheer power of the models they're using: it's about how AI integrates into your regular daily workflows. And OpenAI knows it.

AI That Works The Way You Do

I've spent a lot of time immersed in tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini over the last couple of years. But you knew that already, right? And it strikes me that there's a lot of chatter around the advancing of the underlying LLMs that drive these tools, especially as the likes of DeepSeek and Grok3 have emerged; offering more powerful, efficient models trained for a fraction of the cost of their predecessors. All good, I guess.

(Mind you, it was literally just a month ago when you couldn't read an article about AI without being told we'd hit 'peak AI': the world had run out of data to train the models on and that was that. Those discussions didn't age well, did they?)

Yet as I've said before, the power of these emergent models is only as good as your application of - or interaction with - them.

ChatGPT is starting to feel like a nascent productivity suite rather than just a chatbot.

So, if you're building apps that connect with these models using APIs, it makes total sense to look at how DeepSeek et al might give you a competitive advantage for lower ongoing costs. But I sense that not many people are at that stage of adoption yet. And that's certainly true amongst the majority of companies that I work with.

Making AI Stickier Than Ever

Meanwhile, OpenAI has taken a two-pronged approach to its roadmap. Clearly, the company is heavily invested in the development of its core models: with o3 and GPT4.5 rolling out and GPT5 being readied for launch 'soon'.

However, what's often a little less obvious is the investment OpenAI is making in the product itself, evolving ChatGPT's interface from the simple chatbot we know and love, into what I'd describe as something that's increasingly looking like a more general business productivity tool.

Think about it: for regular business users, infatuations with the 'latest, fastest' model will come and go, but if you build a platform that becomes intrinsic to their daily workflows, it's far harder to unpick when that shiny new LLM drops.

Beyond the Chatbox

Personally, that's where I see the updates at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 forming the basis of a more robust push into enterprise for OpenAI. In addition to the security assurances that a ChatGPT Team or Enterprise account brings, most of the new front-end functionality is designed to keep users increasingly 'in' the OpenAI ecosystem.

Build a platform that becomes intrinsic to people's daily workflows, and it's far harder to move when that shiny new LLM drops.

For most business users, the biggest friction point with using LLMs are around basic usability. With Canvas and Projects, OpenAI is making ChatGPT feel like a nascent productivity suite rather than just a chatbot: that's a crucial step towards AI adoption in corporate environments.

Hidden Powers

You may have used Canvas, and if you haven't, why the heck not?

Busting text out of the chat box and into fully formed documents eliminates one of the biggest complaints about originating work with these tools; the ability to edit, tweak, format, comment on a large chunk of text makes document co-creation feel like a genuine collaboration, without the constant back-and-forth of a chat-based discussion.

And where you once had a long stream of past GPeeTee chats, Projects brings structure amongst the chaos; folders for chats that can draw on shared documents and custom instructions set at a Project level. Prefer your 'proposals' project chat punchy, but you’d very much rather that your 'blogs' might be somewhat more verbose, no? It's a couple of lines of text away...although, I rarely let my AI friend near my precious articles. Oo-er.

Add in Operator and Deep Research, and you're starting to build something stickier than a treacle-dipped hedgehog in a velcro jumpsuit.

Even Tasks, which launched to little fanfare in January 2025 brings a degree of automation to help with your workflows...without the merest mention of an AI Agent. And yet, it's a fantastic way of having regular or time-based tasks schedule themselves around your agenda. Think 'send me my AI round-up news every Friday at 2pm', 'give me some SEO tips for my website every Monday morning', or 'let's pick up on this workshop planning next Tuesday.'

Add in the updates that have grabbed more attention of late, Operator and Deep Research, and you're starting to build something stickier than a treacle-dipped hedgehog in a velcro jumpsuit.

Productivity + Integration => Sheer Power

Operator is an autonomous web browsing agent that can take on activities online on your behalf (with security limitations!), undertaking some initially basic tasks just like a human would just from a prompt. Deep Research combines reasoning models (AI models that take a multi-stage approach that 'thinks' about the task at hand) with powerful online and knowledge searches to produce detailed research reports (and more). Again, these tools are less about chat and more about AI-driven automation.

Caveat: I've not yet got my hands on Operator as it's not out in the UK, but when I do, I'll be reporting back here.

I maintain - and hey, I might be completely wrong here - that for most business users integrating LLMs into their operations, it won't be the flashiest AI chatbot that wins in the short to medium term. It'll be about the company that manages to create something that feels so tightly integrated to their workflows that it's just unimaginable to suddenly stop using the wider functionality it provides. That's what will drive business adoption - and critically, retention - in the long run.

For me, right now, it's ChatGPT that's currently treading that path.

If you’re serious about getting ahead

If you’re curious about AI, and want practical help making it work for your business, why not talk to me about THE AI ADVANTAGE: a range of workshops and services designed to fit where you’re at, whether that’s leadership strategy, team training, solving a real-world business challenge, or getting ongoing guidance.

Or all of the above.

Clients have called my sessions "the best workshops I’ve ever been on” and they’re designed to immerse you and your team in how to get the most of the tools, and how they can fit into your day-to-day operations.

Interested? Let’s have that chat, one-to-one.

How a bonkers idea to turn our dog into an AI maths tutor ended up as an OpenAI film

Well, the cat’s finally out of the bag. Or should I say, the cocker spaniel’s out of the bag…?

I can barely believe I’m writing this, but a story that started with me feeling like I was failing as a parent is now the subject of a film on the website of probably one of the most important tech companies there has ever been, OpenAI.

Flashback: How Izzy Came About

It all began when my daughter Daisy was prepping for her SATs exams. She’d been struggling with maths, and in a vain attempt to get her back on track, we sat down together with a revision guide I’d bought. “How hard can it be?” I thought. How wrong was I?!

And that’s why Izzy the AI Maths Tutor was created: trained on the areas Daisy was struggling with, and given the persona of our crazy dog, Izzy. You can read more about how I used ChatGPT to help her smash her maths exams here.

A Caravan, A Rainy Day, and a Surprising Email

Fast forward a couple of months. We’re sat in a caravan in The Lake District. It’s raining and my electric MINI has been towed away because it won’t charge, and the rest of our week-long break is starting to look a bit grim.

Daisy’s on her iPad, and I’m doing the terrible parent thing of dipping into emails and checking updates on LinkedIn. Bad dad.

As I scan through messages, one catches my eye: it’s the most far-out piece of spam I’ve ever had.

“Hi, I’m from OpenAI’s comms team. We’ve seen your story and we’d like to talk to you about it.”

YEAH RIGHT.

“Hey Daisy, have you seen this? This is exactly the kind of scam I’ve told you to watch out for!”

Skepticism Turns to Reality

You see, I’m not daft: I still remember the ‘classic’ African prince email scam from the dawn of the internet.

Plus, I’m a northerner. I’m genetically programmed to treat all good news with a form of advanced scepticism we’ve developed through the ages, a thick skin hewn from the falling rocks of inter-generational misfortune… Wait. I’ve gone off on one, haven’t I?

Essentially, you can’t blag a blagger, and I’m having none of this.

But I’m intrigued: whatever this is doesn’t happen to people like me.

So I get around to responding, expecting to be asked for my bank details to help process the request. And then I get a reply which looks legit. OpenAI had read about the AI Maths Tutor I’d made using ChatGPT and they were thinking of making a film about it.

“Do you have time for a call?”

Blimey.

Still from the film: Izzy gets animated during her tutoring session…

From Concept to Reality

A couple of calls later, it’s getting clear this is actually all happening. There are people storyboarding our experience, and I’m getting requests to scout locations a crew could shoot me and Daisy (and our actual dog, Izzy) as we talk about them. Meanwhile, hotels are being booked and Daisy is tapping me up for a new outfit.

The shoot came around quickly. By this point, I’m checking the weather daily. It’s Manchester and, of course, it’s going to rain. Persistently: right on brand. And yet, as we got to the team’s arrival, the rain stopped and the clouds broke. A huge crew descends on our house. OpenAI literally have come knocking on our door.

We spoke about the process of setting up our GPT Maths Tutor, sure, but so much of the shoot was us hanging out at home and around our lovely village, Didsbury.

The OpenAI team were so great to spend time with. Daisy rustled up sweet treats for them, including making fresh ice cream, and the whole experience just felt like having some friends around to mess around with. It’s just that they happened to bring some expensive-looking camera and lighting kit with them.

STUFF GOT REAL

But it still hadn’t really dawned on me how much of a big deal it was until Adam, a really senior guy from the company, picked up a felt-crafted doll of Izzy that was sat on the window shelf in our kitchen.

“This is just like the version of Izzy our animation guys are working on!”

Gulp.

One internal double-take later, I’m starting to get a sense of how cool this video was going to be. They’d loved our story, using ChatGPT to tackle a simple human challenge. They loved that I wasn’t a techie, just a dad in need of a hand. And they loved the fact that we put our bonkers dog right at the heart of the thing we made.

You know what? They captured the heart and the humour behind turning a family dog into a maths tutor who saved the day. And we LOVE the video they made.

Daisy and Izzy high five.

A Huge Thank You!

HUGE THANKS to Taya, Jeff and Adam at OpenAI for investing in our story and giving us one of the most exciting—and surreal—experiences we’ve had. And thanks to Dan Fitzpatrick for sharing my experience with ‘Izzy’: it has been incredible to see so many people adapt the prompt to their own needs.

The Final Cut

So there we are. The film is live, it’s beautiful, and I’m hoping it inspires others to follow our example. You can find the AI Maths Tutor prompt in my article here.

If you’re serious about getting ahead

If you’re curious about AI, and want practical help making it work for your business, why not talk to me about THE AI ADVANTAGE: a range of workshops and services designed to fit where you’re at, whether that’s leadership strategy, team training, solving a real-world business challenge, or getting ongoing guidance.

Or all of the above.

Clients have called my sessions "the best workshops I’ve ever been on” and they’re designed to immerse you and your team in how to get the most of the tools, and how they can fit into your day-to-day operations.

Interested? Let’s have that chat, one-to-one.