Original buyer-guide sequence
Prepare the work, interview, agreement, and handoff.
These guides help small businesses decide when to hire, write a useful brief, evaluate evidence, compare engagement models, interview consistently, define acceptance, and prepare for support. They are educational material, not provider verification or legal, privacy, security, tax, procurement, employment, or industry-specific advice.
When to hire an AI professional
Separate a learning question, a software-support question, and a real consulting engagement before you spend.
Guide 02Write a useful AI project brief
Give candidates enough operating context to think clearly without disclosing private information too early.
Guide 03Evaluate experience without relying on hype
Look for relevant reasoning, transparent limits, and evidence you can verify.
Guide 04Compare advisory, discovery, build, and support engagements
Choose a commercial shape that matches what is known today and who must own the result tomorrow.
Guide 05Interview an AI consultant or implementer
Use consistent questions to compare how candidates discover, build, test, communicate, and hand off work.
Guide 06Set acceptance criteria for an AI project
Decide how the business will recognize a useful, bounded result before a demonstration becomes a deployment.
Guide 07Prepare for handoff and ongoing support
Make the business capable of operating, reviewing, changing, and stopping the delivered work.