The Smarter Way to Use AI | Tory Burch Foundation

There’s no shortage of articles about AI for founders—the platforms to know, the prompts to master and the best applications for a competitive edge. But one crucial point often goes unsaid: AI is only as good as the person behind it. Without the guidance of clear, human thinking, the rest doesn’t matter. 

That’s where leadership architect Alison Taylor comes in. As CEO of the strategy studio Augur, she helps entrepreneurs uncover the structural problems holding their businesses back. She’s developed a framework to help founders get the most from AI, and it hinges on a simple perspective shift: “The algorithm running your company isn’t on your phone,” she said. “It’s in your head.”

As part of our webinar series, Taylor showed us use AI for business—including how to overcome AI hallucinations and bias—so tech remains an asset, not a crutch or a liability. “Your thinking is the most valuable thing you own,” she reminded us. “Act like it.”

IT’S ABOUT AGENCY. 

Your decisions have always been shaped by external factors, Taylor said, highlighting accelerators, advisors and the market narrative as examples. “AI is just the newest way founders outsource their judgment,” she explained. “Different tools, same pattern. None of this makes you a bad founder. It makes you a founder who has been operating in a system that was designed to make you doubt your own mind.”

Think back to when you first started using AI. You probably requested smaller tasks, such as drafting a caption or compiling a last-minute deck. As you grew more comfortable, the asks got bigger—until, eventually, you began using it for key decisions, like whether to hire someone. Requests like that indicate that instead of working with AI, you began deferring to it. 

REGAIN YOUR AGENCY BEFORE TURNING TO AI TOOLS.

To go from passive receiver to active participant, start by asking yourself one question: Who’s actually been making the decisions in your business? “Not who you think is, but who actually is,” Taylor clarified. 

Then, make deliberate choices about what will and won’t influence you. “Choose how you’re going to show up rather than just letting the algorithm feed you,” she said, outlining the steps below. 

Inputs aren’t decisions. 

Cohort chatter, investor pressure, social media and large language models (LLMs)—they provide input. You decide what it means for you. 

Familiarity is not the same as truth. 

The more you hear something, the more real it feels. That’s repetition and effective marketing, not discernment. 

Your judgment is your most expensive asset.

Every time you outsource your critical thinking, it quietly erodes. You’ll pay for it later. 

Presence is a practice to be cultivated.

Curate your feed on Instagram, for instance, so instead of doomscrolling, it recharges you. Or, in Spotify, choose to listen to albums based on your mood; don’t let the algorithm dictate your playlist.

Your judgment is your most expensive asset.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR THINKING.

Your thinking is the basis for everything you do, in your life and in business; it’s paramount that you safeguard it. “The goal is discernment, not cynicism or certainty,” said Taylor. “It’s about the ability to sit with complexity and still make a call.”

Now that you’ve found ways to step back from outside influences, carefully step back in, with Taylor’s steps.

Focus on the source, not the story. 

Don’t believe anything until you identify the source and its agenda, even down to a magazine think piece. “Do your own research,” Taylor said, “and find out for yourself.” Remember that even if you do use an AI tool for research, ask for its sources, so you can review them. 

Slow the outrage. 

Strong emotional reactions are a sign to pause, not share. Rage is a conversion mechanism, like clickbait-y, misleading headlines.  

Check your assumptions. 

The most dangerous assumptions aren’t those you disagree with; they’re the ones you’ve unconsciously accepted as your own. Always question whether you actually believe something or if it came from somewhere else. 

Read laterally. 

“Look across the ecosystem,” Taylor said. “Look at it from different perspectives—cultural, sociological, class, race, gender—for a more robust picture.” 

Go back to the basics. 

Read more, write by hand, think on paper and journal. “Let your first draft be messy. Just get the ideas out of your head,” Taylor suggested. “The fundamentals beat every shortcut.” Or take a break from AI; she did and it gave her a much-needed reset. 

REFRAME HOW YOU USE AI.

Treat AI not as a replacement for your thinking, but as “a sparring partner,” said Taylor. “Use it to stress-test your thinking.” 

• Instead of “write me a pitch,” say: “Here’s my pitch. Which assumption will investors challenge first?”
• Instead of “should I hire this person,” say: “I’m leaning yes. Here’s why. What am I not seeing?” 
• Instead of “give me a content strategy,” say: “Here’s my thinking. Argue against it like a skeptic.”

“Outsourcing is handing something over and hoping it’s going to come back better,” Taylor noted. “But you’ve heard the old adage, garbage in, garbage out, right? Sparring is using that resistance to get sharper.” 

GUARDRAILS FOR HALLUCINATIONS AND BIAS.

Generative and agentic AI are great tools, but not without their problems: chiefly, hallucinations, meaning nonsense and errors, and bias. 

Hallucinations

Be specific. The more focused you are with your prompts, the less gaps AI has to fill in with incorrect or potentially fabricated information. Taylor recommended chunking and stacking—breaking up your work into manageable tasks and then organizing them in a logical way. 

Set a time limit. A model like ChatGPT will continually pull your attention and send you off on tangents. Remember to ask for sources. And spar, spar, spar—e.g., “Ask me the questions you need to get a better outcome.”

Give good data. “You need to bring in as much raw material as possible,” Taylor added. “You need to be telling this tool what you want it to do. The tool should not be saying, ‘I can do this for you.’ You hold the directive, not the other way around.” 

Bias

AI bias is real—and it disproportionately affects women and people of color. “If you’re feeding information to your LLM, you have the opportunity to put what you want in the memory,” Taylor said. Tell it what to consider about your business and your point of view. 

And look into the background of the companies behind the tools. Are your values aligned? “It’s your duty to understand where you’re putting your money, time and attention,” she continued. 

HOW TO USE AI FOR COMPLEX DECISIONS.

The more complicated the issue, the more comprehensive the playbook. Here’s how Taylor navigates more involved decisions. 

Get clear on your end goal. 

“You need to have an outcome in mind,” said Taylor. “Is your action in service of it? Because if it isn’t, it doesn’t matter.” Reverse engineer from there. 

Recognize your biases and assumptions. 

Biases are the lens you see the world through; assumptions are what you believe to be true, but may not be. Be aware of the former and gauge how confident you are of the latter. Both will impact your judgment. 

Test your assumptions.

Talk to people, do the research, review the metrics. You want the data so you can make an informed decision. “Get in the habit of testing, getting feedback and rapid iteration,” Taylor said. “Your outcome will either be validated or you’re going to have to go back to the drawing board.” 

When is AI the wrong option altogether? Taylor cautioned against using AI for anything personal. “It’s still a predictive set of stats, giving you answers it thinks you want based on trained data,” she said. “Do that deep thinking with yourself. Build that intuition and self-trust.”