For business leaders
Questions to ask before approving an AI-built app
12 plain-English questions to ask before you green-light an AI-built app. Print it, forward it, or use it in your next review meeting.
Before you greenlight it
- 1What's the smallest, ugliest version that would still prove this is worth building?
- 2Who is the single accountable owner once the consultant or builder walks away?
- 3If this app vanished next Monday, what breaks — and what's the workaround?
Data, privacy, and trust
- 1What data goes in, and where does it physically live?
- 2If a regulator asked us to show our work tomorrow, could we?
- 3Who can see what, and how do we revoke that access in 60 seconds?
Quality and honesty
- 1Where is the AI most likely to confidently make things up — and how would we catch it?
- 2What's our pre-launch check before real users see this?
- 3What's the rollback plan if something ships broken?
Cost and continuity
- 1What's the realistic 3-year cost — including AI usage, hosting, fixes, and the person babysitting it?
- 2If the original builder disappears, can someone else read and change this in under a week?
- 3What signals would tell us this app is no longer worth running?