Small Business AI 101 lesson
Lesson 5: Review before you reuse
Human review is the work that makes an AI draft safe enough to consider.
Check factual anchors
Verify names, dates, numbers, product details, location, policies, links, quotes, and any other fact a reader could rely on. Compare against the original source, not the confidence of the prose.
If the task needs a current product, legal, financial, employment, or regulatory fact, use the appropriate current official source and qualified guidance. Do not assume a general AI response has checked it for you.
Check fit and consequences
Ask whether the audience will understand the message, whether the tone matches the relationship, and whether the suggested next step is one the business can actually honor. A grammatically correct draft can still create a bad customer experience.
Review for missing context, biased assumptions, accidental disclosure, misleading simplification, and statements that imply a commitment. The reviewer is responsible for deciding what remains, changes, or disappears.
Keep a clear final owner
One accountable person should approve the final version before it is sent, published, or added to an official record. That person may use AI assistance, but ownership of the decision stays human.
For a team, define which work needs ordinary peer review and which work needs a specialist, manager, or official approval. The appropriate check depends on the stakes, not the novelty of the tool.