Brenda J. Eaden

MSOs & LPs: Don’t Let AI Take Over Your Strategic Thinking Many cannabis workers are embracing AI for tasks like content generation, automating workflows and research.  Early adoption is valuable for its productivity gains and learning. However, AI-powered strategy development and planning can be a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ in some firms 4 problems arise when firms put too much faith in AI: 1️⃣ AI hallucinations and problematic recommendations Google these terms, or do you own experiment.  I used GPT-5 to generate a map of North America, a map that hasn’t changed in decades.   How many errors can you count in the accompanying picture? I stopped at 40. I grant you AI is still a work in progress and will get better.  My concern for cannabis is that the outputs are only as good as the inputs.   AI scours in order Reddit, Wikipedia and YouTube for its knowledge (see chart in comments).  One doesn’t find the most current, relevant and accurate cannabis data in these sources.  Reddit and Wikipedia dominate because they are overflowing with user discussions, definitions, reviews, and advice, much of that generated by AI. However, citation frequency is not the same thing as a quality knowledge source. 2️⃣ Regression to the strategic mean The strategic impact goes deeper than errors.  When people in different companies match prompts and the LLM draws on the same data, businesses end up with copy-cat strategies.  This is the antithesis of what’s needed: bespoke, practical strategy that outflanks the competition. 3️⃣ Dumbs down organizational talent An over reliance on AI reduces your team’s critical thinking, communication skills, and curiosity. This is fine if the employee already has the competencies. But if they don’t, they could turn into a robot-like worker.  Firms that become dependent on algorithmic thinking will lose the capacity for judgment and creativity. 4️⃣ Hurts the user AI is a people pleaser.  GPT-5 won’t say your prompts or questions are dumb when they are.  This dishonesty gives the user a false sense of their abilities.  When this deceit is mated to a senior but inexperienced person the results could be dangerous. Maybe worse, companies may inadvertently be training their employees for obsolescence. When your primary skill becomes prompt engineering rather than providing functional or cannabis expertise, the boss can replace you with a $20/mo. GPT-5 subscription. Moving forward The solution is not to ban AI or add more review layers. AI is valuable and here to stay.  Cannabis firms must understand that driving business performance requires preserving and enhancing uniquely human capabilities plus strategically deploying AI. Those that master this balance will thrive.   🔔 Ring the bell on my page to get VIP notifications Call me.  I help leadership teams develop AI programs that reduce cost, improve productivity and enhance decision making. #AI #management #cannabis #cannabisindustry #artificialintelligence

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