Episode 93
Why Your AI Keeps Giving You Bad Answers
Everyone talks about AI in vague, sweeping terms. This episode gets specific. Dennis Collins, Leah Bumphrey, and Paul Boomer (author of The Secret Formulas of Artificial Intelligence) tackle the question business owners actually have: if I'm only going to do one thing with AI, what should it be? Along the way, Leah tells a real story about AI giving her confidently wrong advice — and what it taught her about the questions she didn't ask.
In this episode:
[02:37] Start With Self-Assessment, Not a New Tool — Paul's first move with any client: what are you already using AI for, and what have you actually gotten out of it?
[03:19] Are You Actually Measuring It? — why "it's helping" isn't a metric, and the questions to ask before you trust the answer
[05:03] AI Is an Intern, Not an Instant Fix — why the ROI on AI can take 3 to 18 months to show up, and why that's normal
[06:52] The Ice Storm Story — Leah's real-world lesson in why AI can only work with the information you actually give it
[13:03] The One Prompt That Fixes Bad Answers — tell AI not to work in ambiguity, and ask what else it needs to know before it makes a recommendation
Resources Mentioned
Wizard Academy — Connect and Convert's sponsor, a non-traditional business school for owners and entrepreneurs. WizardAcademy.org
Connect With Us
Website: ConnectAndConvertPodcast.com
Got a "true confession" or a question you want us to cover? Email connectandconvert@wizardofads.com
Transcript
and was wrong and I was mad
Speaker:and I called her many names.
Speaker:And this is me who doesn't want to
Speaker:personalize AI, but I was really sure.
Speaker:But how could she know?
Speaker:How could she know?
Speaker:I didn't give her all the information.
Speaker:AI can help with a lot of things, right?
Speaker:So today we're going to be
Speaker:honest about where you are.
Speaker:The question isn't getting any softer.
Speaker:It's getting louder.
Speaker:What the heck am I
Speaker:supposed to do with this AI?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And we've had several episodes on Connect
Speaker:and Convert about AI.
Speaker:Hope you'll listen to all of them because
Speaker:we try to give you at least one piece of
Speaker:advice, one piece of action that you can
Speaker:take immediately to deal
Speaker:with this whole AI thing.
Speaker:Lest you think this is just another
Speaker:podcast on AI, which there are hundreds
Speaker:of thousands, this is special because we
Speaker:have the author of the secret formulas of
Speaker:artificial intelligence.
Speaker:Yes, he is right here.
Speaker:Paul Boomer.
Speaker:See his name's right there.
Speaker:Paul M.
Speaker:Boomer.
Speaker:You can tell he's not AI because he has
Speaker:the right amount of fingers there.
Speaker:Well, he might be AI.
Speaker:We're not sure if...
Speaker:Hey, this is what I look for.
Speaker:I look for this in videos.
Speaker:How many hands, fingers, yeah, wings.
Speaker:Okay, we're good.
Speaker:I can...
Speaker:The arm of your glasses.
Speaker:You really don't do that.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:That's a little creepy.
Speaker:Oh, well.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So, today in today's episode, here's what
Speaker:we want to accomplish today.
Speaker:We want to give our audience,
Speaker:if they're only going to do one thing,
Speaker:what is the one thing
Speaker:they should do with AI?
Speaker:As we've talked on our other episodes
Speaker:about this, there's a lot
Speaker:of things you can do with AI.
Speaker:You probably already figured that out.
Speaker:You probably have subscribed to chat GPT
Speaker:or Claude or Perplexity or all three.
Speaker:You'll say, "Yeah, I'm in.
Speaker:I'm in.
Speaker:I'm in AI.
Speaker:I'm doing AI."
Speaker:Are you?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We turn always
Speaker:to Paul Boomer, our
Speaker:subject matter expert.
Speaker:What is that one thing, Paul?
Speaker:If you're only going to do one thing,
Speaker:what is the one thing you should do
Speaker:regarding AI in your small business?
Speaker:That is a really
Speaker:tough question to answer.
Speaker:Well, that's why I ask you.
Speaker:You're the man.
Speaker:Okay, so I'm going to treat you as if you
Speaker:were a client of mine.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And I would ask, what do
Speaker:you think you should be doing?
Speaker:Where have you, where have you, if you
Speaker:are using it today, where have you used
Speaker:it and why have you used it and what have
Speaker:you gotten out of it?
Speaker:What's been the most impactful for you?
Speaker:Well, okay.
Speaker:I think most people would say, "Yeah,
Speaker:well, we've used it to
Speaker:write content for our website.
Speaker:We've found a way to get
Speaker:it to respond to emails.
Speaker:You know, maybe one or two other things,
Speaker:but that's about it.
Speaker:I don't know what else it can do.
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:And I'd be asking, "How are
Speaker:you measuring the output of that?
Speaker:Is it helping you?
Speaker:Is it hurting you?
Speaker:Are you measuring it?"
Speaker:I was going to ask you that question.
Speaker:So I've been figuring
Speaker:out how to measure this thing for you
Speaker:because you can't just use
Speaker:AI and say, "Oh, it's helping.
Speaker:Is it actually helping?
Speaker:Is it increasing productivity?
Speaker:Is it actually increasing culture or is
Speaker:it decreasing culture
Speaker:at the cost of money?"
Speaker:There's so many
Speaker:aspects that go into this.
Speaker:So people do stuff just
Speaker:because they think they should.
Speaker:And, you know, "I got to try this.
Speaker:I got it."
Speaker:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker:The most important questions.
Speaker:What do you want
Speaker:and what do you need?
Speaker:And then being able to measure it.
Speaker:So what do you want?
Speaker:I want more time.
Speaker:I want to make more money.
Speaker:I want, okay.
Speaker:And then the how.
Speaker:And you keep, it's the five whys?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:When you keep asking that, you will come
Speaker:to terms with how it can help you.
Speaker:And if it's not helping you, then you're
Speaker:using it wrong or you're
Speaker:using it for the wrong things.
Speaker:It can't help me wash my floors.
Speaker:I know AI can't do that.
Speaker:Eventually.
Speaker:I imagine those little robots that wash
Speaker:floors will be all over the place.
Speaker:But let me tag on that.
Speaker:Paul asks a great question.
Speaker:How do I know if it's actually working or
Speaker:if I'm just throwing
Speaker:money to defend myself?
Speaker:As Leah said, "Well, I've got to do this.
Speaker:I'm defending myself."
Speaker:But I don't know if
Speaker:this is actually working.
Speaker:Most small business owners that I've
Speaker:talked to say this,
Speaker:"Yeah, I would be more
Speaker:ready to adopt AI if I
Speaker:saw some type of ROI."
Speaker:What do you say to those people, Boomer?
Speaker:AI is your intern.
Speaker:If you hire an intern, are you going to
Speaker:see immediate ROI in that?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:You're going to see a reverse of that,
Speaker:actually, because it's going to take a
Speaker:little time to get them up to speed.
Speaker:Once that person, once that intern knows
Speaker:what their tasks specifically are and why
Speaker:and how they're doing it,
Speaker:that ROI then starts kicking in.
Speaker:So there might be a 3, 6, 12, 18 month
Speaker:lag before you actually know if AI,
Speaker:whatever you're using it for, is helping.
Speaker:Again, how are you
Speaker:using it determines that.
Speaker:So you're saying the metrics would be
Speaker:determined by how you're using it?
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Again, is it saving you time?
Speaker:Is it saving you money?
Speaker:Is it increasing money or is it
Speaker:decreasing time or increasing?
Speaker:So what...
Speaker:What...
Speaker:Okay, you just
Speaker:mentioned a bunch of things.
Speaker:I don't want to lose that.
Speaker:You just enumerated
Speaker:some things that it can do.
Speaker:Let's go through that list you just gave
Speaker:us again to make sure we don't lose that.
Speaker:What can it do?
Speaker:It can save you time, I think you said.
Speaker:It can save you time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It can save you money.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:It can increase
Speaker:money, revenue.
Speaker:Productivity, I guess.
Speaker:Productivity, thank you.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And it can...
Speaker:What's the reverse of the saving time?
Speaker:It can't give you time.
Speaker:I mean, it's saving you time.
Speaker:So that's kind of the same.
Speaker:So you're not wasting...
Speaker:Found time is important.
Speaker:You're not wasting time is what you're
Speaker:trying to say, right?
Speaker:Wasting time on
Speaker:things that are not that...
Speaker:You know, that are important. ...handle
Speaker:with much more efficiency.
Speaker:What I have found is by making it...
Speaker:The one thing that has made a difference
Speaker:for me is making it part of my routine.
Speaker:Like to ask AI, to access AI when I have
Speaker:something that I need to do that I don't
Speaker:want to do or I'm not
Speaker:that good at or I'm unsure.
Speaker:Quick, funny story.
Speaker:Last week, I drove on prairie
Speaker:highways through a blizzard.
Speaker:Ice storm.
Speaker:Unbelievable.
Speaker:It was decent, decent, decent.
Speaker:Last 20 minutes, it was crazy.
Speaker:Got to my destination.
Speaker:I couldn't get out of my vehicle.
Speaker:I could not.
Speaker:I'm driving a 20, 25 Equinox.
Speaker:I can't get out of my vehicle.
Speaker:My girlfriend's laughing at me.
Speaker:We're parked.
Speaker:We're safe.
Speaker:I'm trying to fob.
Speaker:I'm trying the door.
Speaker:I'm trying the whatever.
Speaker:It's not opening.
Speaker:So I go on to perplexity.
Speaker:Why is my...
Speaker:And I give it, you know, because I'm
Speaker:thinking it got wet.
Speaker:There's got to be a workaround.
Speaker:There's no little manual, little door
Speaker:knobby to pull to open.
Speaker:The windows are opening, so
Speaker:it's not the whole electrical.
Speaker:I can start it.
Speaker:I can stop it.
Speaker:So I asked and it gave me this whole list
Speaker:of reasons why I will not be able to open
Speaker:it and how to call a locksmith and how to
Speaker:do this and how to...
Speaker:And I was so irritated.
Speaker:So I litany of phone calls later.
Speaker:Finally, I decide to push the back hatch,
Speaker:you know, the button to...
Speaker:And the hatch opened.
Speaker:So there I am
Speaker:crawling over,
Speaker:moving aside.
Speaker:The gal...
Speaker:The girlfriend I'm with is killing
Speaker:herself because I'm having to move the
Speaker:box of a wine we brought.
Speaker:There were a lot of us that were going to
Speaker:be meeting at this particular hotel.
Speaker:Anyways, I get everything pulled.
Speaker:I get out.
Speaker:I look at the side of my vehicle.
Speaker:It's six inches of ice on both sides.
Speaker:So then I went and slammed against it.
Speaker:The doors were frozen shut.
Speaker:So did perplexity lie to me?
Speaker:Did perplexity tell me the wrong thing?
Speaker:I never told her that I had just finished
Speaker:driving through an ice storm.
Speaker:So it gave you all the answers for normal
Speaker:conditions, not for ice storms.
Speaker:And I was mad and I
Speaker:called her many names.
Speaker:And this is me who doesn't want to
Speaker:personalize AI, but I was really sure.
Speaker:But how could she know?
Speaker:How could she know?
Speaker:I didn't give her all the information.
Speaker:So what's the lesson learned here?
Speaker:Well, it was right for me to
Speaker:use her as part of my routine.
Speaker:Because had I said, I've just driven on
Speaker:the highway conditions that someone, you
Speaker:know, that were crazy.
Speaker:I bet you she didn't know.
Speaker:I would...
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I didn't have the right prompts.
Speaker:I didn't give all the information.
Speaker:But I'm really proud
Speaker:of myself for asking.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:For asking.
Speaker:Because I can solve every unit there.
Speaker:Electrical problem.
Speaker:I'm proud of you too, Leah.
Speaker:I didn't know you were
Speaker:that well versed in AI.
Speaker:You are you are quite the champion.
Speaker:I just like asking.
Speaker:I like having someone to ask
Speaker:and AI never makes fun of me.
Speaker:I never have to worry about it going.
Speaker:Are you like really, you didn't know that
Speaker:if you plug this cord
Speaker:in, this would happen.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:I didn't understand that using baking
Speaker:powder instead of baking soda is no good.
Speaker:AI just tells me what to do.
Speaker:Non-judgment.
Speaker:If I ask the right questions.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:Did I just like
Speaker:sneezing your in your ears?
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:I thought I muted myself.
Speaker:We'll take that out.
Speaker:I, Leah, great story.
Speaker:That brings me back to this.
Speaker:So you've got AI.
Speaker:You've played around with chat, GPT,
Speaker:Claude, Perplexity, whatever.
Speaker:But you don't know how to ask AI what you
Speaker:want, which is what Leah's problem was.
Speaker:She did not put the actual, you know,
Speaker:solution to her problem in that prompt.
Speaker:Paul Boomer, in your book,
Speaker:you mentioned a lot of prompts.
Speaker:You and I have shared prompts.
Speaker:You've given me some
Speaker:killer prompts over the time.
Speaker:Talk to us about what
Speaker:you put into a chatbot.
Speaker:I'm going to backtrack just a moment to
Speaker:actually what Leah's story.
Speaker:And I find that, I find that fascinating
Speaker:because one thing I've noticed is
Speaker:AI is actually causing us as humans to be
Speaker:better communicators.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I have a background.
Speaker:I went through special education,
Speaker:learning disability, ADHD, a
Speaker:few other things, whatever.
Speaker:So communication is always a little bit
Speaker:of a challenge for me sometimes.
Speaker:Always some.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:As I explained right
Speaker:here and demonstrate.
Speaker:And what AI has forced me to do
Speaker:is to gather my thoughts first
Speaker:and then plug it in.
Speaker:Knowing that again, and I keep going back
Speaker:to the reference of an
Speaker:intern, thinking of it as an intern.
Speaker:If you don't give it the full
Speaker:information, it doesn't know
Speaker:what's right, what's left, what's wrong,
Speaker:what's up, what's down, what's diagonal.
Speaker:It doesn't know that.
Speaker:So you have to give it the right
Speaker:information for it to come to the
Speaker:conclusion that you are seeking.
Speaker:Because of that, it forces us to think
Speaker:first in a time where we are so time
Speaker:constricted.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we're using, what's interesting is
Speaker:we're using AI to speed up time almost to
Speaker:get more things done.
Speaker:But what's interesting, it's actually
Speaker:forcing us to slow down.
Speaker:Those who are using it properly, it's
Speaker:forcing us to rethink how we communicate.
Speaker:So Dennis, I don't think I just answered
Speaker:your question, but I
Speaker:just wanted to say that.
Speaker:I think you did though, actually.
Speaker:I think you did answer it.
Speaker:That
Speaker:if you're just throwing BS into the
Speaker:chatbot, you're going to get BS back.
Speaker:You have to think through what the
Speaker:problem is you're trying to solve.
Speaker:Like in Leah's case, had she thought for
Speaker:another 30 seconds, she says, oh, it
Speaker:probably has
Speaker:something to do with the ice.
Speaker:Let me put this in the in perplexity and
Speaker:see what she says about ice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, so.
Speaker:And here, here is one, one tip I
Speaker:recommend for everybody.
Speaker:Whenever you're putting a prompt in,
Speaker:especially the first prompt when you're
Speaker:asking questions, ask it or tell it to
Speaker:ask you to not work in the ambiguity.
Speaker:And what other questions do you have of
Speaker:me to make the right decision or to, to
Speaker:make the right
Speaker:recommendation or whatever.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:And it will tell you, it will, it will
Speaker:spit back about three
Speaker:questions saying, what about this?
Speaker:What about this?
Speaker:What about this?
Speaker:What about this?
Speaker:And you go, oh, I
Speaker:didn't think about that.
Speaker:Yeah, I use that
Speaker:similar way.
Speaker:What questions have I not asked that I
Speaker:should have asked that would help me
Speaker:learn more about this?
Speaker:What information do you
Speaker:need to make a full decision?
Speaker:I also like to ask
Speaker:the question backwards.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I am create.
Speaker:I want to help my brother who I like
Speaker:market his HVAC company.
Speaker:I want to help my brother who I don't
Speaker:like market his, it is amazing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And, and by, by getting the opposite
Speaker:view, you know, like you're, you're, you
Speaker:know, obviously in one I'm trying to kill
Speaker:his business and the
Speaker:other I'm trying to grow it.
Speaker:It helps you get this 3d perspective.
Speaker:But I, I like your idea.
Speaker:Paul, ask what I have missed because
Speaker:that, that is a, I love doing that in a
Speaker:sales call when I'm talking to a prospect
Speaker:or to a client is what should I have
Speaker:asked that I didn't ask?
Speaker:What am I missing?
Speaker:What's going on?
Speaker:Got to get used to
Speaker:asking that as a prompt.
Speaker:What else do you need to know?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:amazing.
Speaker:The answers you get back stuff that you
Speaker:say to yourself, you know, I should have
Speaker:thought of that, but I did.
Speaker:Oh, for sure.
Speaker:Well, when I drive down to wizard
Speaker:Academy.org, I've never, not that I've
Speaker:driven down, but there would be no ice,
Speaker:but they would be a lot of prompts to
Speaker:make sure I get down there the right way.
Speaker:And you know, we're thrilled that they
Speaker:sponsor us, but for our small business
Speaker:owners, and we're getting
Speaker:towards the end of our time here,
Speaker:it's, it's making it
Speaker:part of your routine.
Speaker:So you don't feel stupid asking
Speaker:AI and a couple of
Speaker:different AIs questions.
Speaker:And that helps you build a way to do it
Speaker:that reflects who you are and what you're
Speaker:after, because it does learn.
Speaker:I like what you said, who
Speaker:you are and what you're after.
Speaker:And it has no way of knowing
Speaker:that until you tell it, right?
Speaker:You have to tell it.
Speaker:And the better you are at telling it, the
Speaker:better responses you're going to get.
Speaker:Good, good summary.
Speaker:Mr.
Speaker:Boomer, what do you want to leave our
Speaker:audience with today?
Speaker:One tip, one thing, if they're going to
Speaker:do nothing else with AI, what is the one
Speaker:thing they need to do with AI?
Speaker:Dive in with AI,
Speaker:knowing it's not perfection.
Speaker:And expect
Speaker:crap.
Speaker:Be willing
Speaker:to put in the time to learn how to
Speaker:communicate with it, because just by
Speaker:communicating with AI better, you're
Speaker:going to become a
Speaker:better communicator overall.
Speaker:Which is very, very way out there in
Speaker:terms of business owners.
Speaker:They're not thinking about
Speaker:that, but it is critical.
Speaker:Communication
Speaker:is critical.
Speaker:And if you can actually, and this is
Speaker:weird, I can't believe I'm saying, I
Speaker:can't believe I'm saying this.
Speaker:If you can communicate with AI, you can
Speaker:communicate with people.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:So it's the same skills
Speaker:as you're saying, right?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm actually getting started.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:If you can communicate with AI in such a
Speaker:way that you get the responses that are
Speaker:fully formulated back from AI,
Speaker:then you can
Speaker:communicate with other people
Speaker:better.
Speaker:I got to work on that a little bit.
Speaker:Yeah, that there you got
Speaker:something there, don't you?
Speaker:We're coming back to it.
Speaker:We're coming back to it.
Speaker:I think they got something there.
Speaker:So any final word on what our business
Speaker:owners need to not fear AI?
Speaker:Yes, it is that huge
Speaker:snowball rolling down the hill.
Speaker:You don't want to get crushed by it.
Speaker:The only way to fix
Speaker:that is to jump on board.
Speaker:Okay, and get with it.
Speaker:And I hope this episode, and we've had
Speaker:several other episodes of Connect and
Speaker:Convert that talk about AI.
Speaker:So tune those in because we've talked
Speaker:about other aspects of it.
Speaker:I think you'll find that interesting.
Speaker:And I hope you found today's interesting.
Speaker:So that wraps it up for another episode
Speaker:of Connect and Convert.
Speaker:We'll be back soon.
Speaker:Stay tuned to Connect and Convert.
Speaker:(Music)
