Can AI solve problems the way experience does? I decided to put it to the test.
By Jacob Ritter · October 27, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Can AI solve problems the way experience does? I decided to put it to the test.
I spend a huge part of my week answering the same kinds of FBA questions. So, I tested: could AI just… do it? With the growing adoption of AI, I wanted to see whether it could reach the same conclusions I do when answering the questions I receive daily.
Using my existing Slack conversations, playbooks, SOPs, and emails, I built a knowledge base for AI to reference and partnered with a coworker and his AI agent to test it against real-world questions.
One finding stood out: I receive an average of 140+ messages daily across 20+ people, reflecting how frequently colleagues rely on my experience to identify and resolve issues.
Here’s what the experiment revealed:
1. Speed matters.
I typically resolve questions in about 2 minutes, sometimes taking up to 15. AI averaged 18–20 minutes to research, cross-reference sources, and reach similar conclusions.
2. Context is everything.
Many questions require navigating multiple systems, validating data, and interpreting images. AI often reached similar or adjacent conclusions, but additional prompting was needed to bridge the gaps.
3. Experience drives the outcome.
Knowledge bases provide information, but experience helps connect the dots, recognize nuance, and determine which details actually matter.
My takeaway: AI has tremendous potential to reduce repetitive work and scale institutional knowledge. But having access to information isn't the same as knowing how to apply it.
The real opportunity isn't replacing human expertise. It's using AI to augment it—freeing people to focus on the judgment, connections, and complex problem-solving that drive better outcomes.
Where have you found AI genuinely saves you time, and where does it fall apart?
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #Automation #KnowledgeManagement #OperationalExcellence #ProcessImprovement #ContinuousImprovement #ProblemSolving #Leadership #HumanInTheLoop #FutureOfWork #FBA #Amazon