Artificial Intelligence is set to become one of the greatest productivity tools businesses have ever seen. Ironically, its greatest value comes from rewarding the people who think the best rather than those who simply use it the most.

Every credible AI expert reinforces AI is just another tool. When used properly, it is potentially very powerful and can provide some excellent value — but it is not a holistic solution to every problem your business faces. As AI becomes more efficient, it creates more time for humans to think more deeply and become more capable.

You must maintain the “human in the loop.” Unless thinking and guidance are properly connected, a business can never achieve necessary alignment.

In other words, does the AI tool do what you need it to — or meant it to — in your organization? You will only know if you set an objective, test the tool, review the results and compare them with what you intended to achieve.

Every few weeks, Winnipeg repeats the same ritual.

An encampment is dismantled. People gather what little they own and move somewhere else. Outreach workers start over. Police respond to the next location. Emergency departments see the same people. Neighbours grow more frustrated. Businesses absorb another loss.

Then the cycle begins again.

We’ve mistaken movement for progress.

Every summer in Manitoba, rodeo season brings thousands of children to local rodeos and the Manitoba Stampede. They arrive with cowboy hats and cotton candy in hand, excitement in their eyes.

Yet, as a mother who works in education, I can’t help but wonder: what are we teaching them in those stands?

Inside classrooms, we teach children that kindness matters. We encourage empathy, discourage bullying and ask students to consider how their actions affect others. Students are taught that animals experience fear, pain and distress, just like us. Yet when school ends, we celebrate events built around chasing, restraining, roping and riding animals for entertainment.

This contradiction is difficult to ignore.