Direct answer
Start with the workflow, not the tool. What specific task do you want AI to help with? Who reviews its output? What data will it see? What is the cost of a mistake?
Evaluation checklist
- Data handling: what data is retained, used for training, or shared with third parties?
- Output quality: how often is the output wrong in the specific workflow you care about?
- Review fit: does the tool support a human-in-the-loop review step?
- Pricing: what is the real cost at your volume — including overages?
- Vendor stability: is this a feature of a stable platform or a startup with one product?
- Integration: how does it connect to your existing tools and data?