Wait, what.... why no AI?
It’s a fair question and one we expect to hear more often.
AI is everywhere right now. From generating content to automating workflows, it seems like every product is racing to bolt on some form of generative capability. So naturally, people ask: why doesn’t smallChange use AI?
The answer is simple: because accuracy, accountability, and quality matter more than novelty.
Our documents aren’t just text
At smallChange, the outputs you create; Business Cases, Risk Analyses, Change Requests, aren’t just “documents.” They are Quality Documents.
Each one:
- Has a unique identifier
- Exists within a structured workflow
- Is subject to review, approval, and audit
Introducing generative AI into that process raises a fundamental concern:
what happens when the system is confidently wrong?
The problem with hallucination
Generative AI is powerful, but it is not infallible. It can:
- Invent details that were never provided
- Misinterpret context
- Produce outputs that look correct but contain subtle errors
In many applications, that’s acceptable. In ours, it’s not.
A risk analysis that quietly omits a key risk
A business case that overstates benefits
A change record that introduces ambiguity
These aren’t minor issues, they undermine trust in the entire system.
We don’t believe it’s responsible to automate the creation of controlled management products using a technology that can’t guarantee factual integrity. Yes, we understand humans a fallible too, but we’re also more likely to learn from our mistakes.
We’re not anti-AI, we’re intentional
This doesn’t mean we’re against AI altogether.
In fact, we see strong potential in areas like:
- Analytics and insights (e.g. identifying trends across projects)
- Pattern recognition (e.g. recurring risks or bottlenecks)
- Decision support, where AI augments, not replaces human judgement
These are areas where AI can add value without compromising the integrity of core management products. At least 80% of code reviews during smallChange development involved AI.
Right tool, right job
For now, smallChange is focused on doing one thing well:
Helping teams create structured, high quality, auditable change artefacts.
Generative AI doesn’t currently help us achieve that goal, so we’re not forcing it in.
We’d rather be deliberate than trendy.
The bottom line
We don’t use AI in our workflows today because:
- Our documents require precision and reliability
- AI can introduce hallucinations and subtle errors
- Accountability must remain clear and human owned
That may change in the future but only where it makes sense, and only where it adds real value without compromising trust.
Until then, we’re building smallChange to be something simple, dependable, and transparent.
And sometimes, that means saying no to AI.