Before choosing an AI vendor, reverse the demo: give each candidate the same difficult business case and watch how their team works through it.

A rehearsed happy path can hide uncertain evidence, manual interventions, and the operator effort needed when the first answer is wrong.

Bring a representative difficult example and ask the vendor to show decisions, supporting evidence, and how the result reaches your workflow.

Let an operator correct an error during the exercise. Observe the handoff and recovery instead of only watching the vendor drive.

Turn unanswered questions into specific pilot tests and proposal terms. The purpose is comparable evidence, not a contest for the smoothest presentation.

Original article explainer. AI-assisted conceptual illustration and neural narration; original synthesized music. Not a human recording or customer result.