3 Ways Business Leaders Can Get Started with AI

Business leaders do not need to answer every question about AI before they start. A useful first step is closer to home: a business challenge they understand, a customer experience that already works, and a clear sense of how their brand should show up in conversation.

In our Meta In a Flash series, Meta leaders Fred Leach, James Detmer, and Heidi Rhodes offer practical advice for turning interest in AI into action.

1. Start with AI where you know the work best

Fred Leach, VP of Product Management at Meta, recommends trying AI on something you already understand deeply. Your expertise helps you see the technology’s capabilities and limits, ask better questions, and learn what it needs to perform for your business.

His practical advice is to choose one real use case and put it into practice. Give AI access to the same business information your team already relies on, then use what you learn to improve the experience.

2. Build from the customer moments that already work

James Detmer, Director of Product Management at Meta, calls  the experiences that already work for your business and your customers “magic moments.” He advises leaders to go deep on these moments and use AI to make them better and easier to scale.

For an AI agent, that means tailoring the experience to your business. Give it the product knowledge, brand voice, and guidance it needs, including when to hand a conversation to a person. Trust grows as the agent handles real interactions in the way your business expects.

3. Define how your brand should show up in conversation

Heidi Rhodes, Global Director of Customer Success at Meta, asks leaders to start a conversation about brand expression in a world of conversational commerce. As customers grow more comfortable using AI, businesses need to decide which interactions matter most and what kind of relationship those moments should build.

She anchors her view of ROI on AI-enabled messaging that helps a customer in a moment that matters, so that the conversation can become part of an ongoing relationship with the brand.

A practical path forward

Together, the three perspectives help turn a broad AI question into something businesses can act on. Start in a field you know, focus on the experiences customers already value, and set clear expectations for how AI should represent your brand. Each step gives your team evidence for what to improve and what to scale next.

The first step can be small as long as it is real enough to teach your team something.