Problem definition and AI alternatives

Before funding an AI tool, find out what else could meet the same need. Options include changing how work is done, a basic digital tool, more training, more staff, a policy change, or doing nothing new. A team should list these options with the benefits, limits and risks of each, and say with evidence why AI does better. If it cannot, the project may work as well or better without AI. The separate page on problem definition covers how to state the problem itself.

Before anyone picks a tool, the team should be able to say what problem it is solving, for whom, and how they know. The problem should be one specific, observable difficulty in people's lives or work, not a broad aim such as "better health". The people who live with the problem should have helped name it, and should recognise the description. Only once the problem is clear does it make sense to ask whether AI, or any technology, has a part in solving it.