Where AI Features Actually Earn Their Place in a Product

The bar for an AI feature should be the same bar as any other feature: does it solve a real problem better than the alternative already available to the user.

The clearest cases are workflows with high repetition and low ambiguity — drafting, summarizing, classifying — where AI removes tedious work rather than making a judgment call the user should make themselves.

Before building, it's worth writing down what 'good enough' looks like for the feature, and how you'll measure it after launch. Without that, it's difficult to tell the difference between a feature that works and one that merely feels impressive in a demo.