While artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly on its way to becoming transformative in the marketplace, many expectations surrounding it are, at best, exaggerated.
AI-washing is now big business. Many vendors are simply rebranding their existing portfolios with AI messaging to impress prospective buyers. This over-selling, alongside commentary from pundits who should know better, is fueling the belief that it is already taking over the world and that human roles in the workplace are nearing extinction.
Debunking common misconceptions
Unfortunately, these inflated expectations can affect a managed service provider’s (MSP’s) ability to market their true value to prospects. Here are some common misconceptions MSPs may encounter:
“We don’t need your AI – we’ll just use ChatGPT/Grok/Claude/Gemini/whatever.”
That may be true in terms of using these major platforms, but it’s not the solution customers might think it is. These are AI engines, not complete solutions. As an MSP, your value lies in leveraging these engines to deliver tangible business outcomes. Customers should be looking for copilots integrated into workflows, with meaningful connections to AI engines, not just claiming to be ‘AI leaders’ because they’ve implemented a tool.
“We won’t need your services – AI will do everything.”
Few people truly believe this, but there’s a growing sentiment that AI and automation will soon handle all the grunt work and even much of the value-added activity. While it can automate certain functions, its output still requires human oversight. AI systems can hallucinate (i.e., fabricate information to fill gaps) or apply bias (drawing conclusions from the loudest voices online rather than verified facts).
Your role as an MSP is to highlight both the strengths and current limitations. Yes, it’s maturing rapidly, but it’s essential that customers understand your role is to guide them through today’s fragile and evolving AI landscape.
“Agentic AI is going to replace a lot of what you offer.”
Perhaps, but where will customers source all this agentic capability? While we’ll see a surge in agentic AI offerings, the last thing organizations need is a collection of disconnected services. MSPs must demonstrate not only their ability to provide agentic capabilities, but also to identify, source, and integrate other agentic services in a transparent and effective way. Your messaging should focus on your integration skills, bringing together disparate capabilities to deliver maximum business value.
“We’re waiting for AGI to come through before making a strategic decision.”
Really? The likelihood of artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that replicates human reasoning, emerging in the next few years is essentially zero. Today’s AI is advanced, yes, but it’s still rules-based and reliant on pattern recognition. Generative outputs like images and videos are impressive, but they’re derivative, based on large language models (LLMs) and human-designed algorithms.
MSPs must help customers set realistic expectations. Position your services to guide them through the evolution from machine learning (ML) to deep learning (DL), generative AI (Gen AI), and eventually pseudo-AGI. Your goal is to prevent customers from placing blind trust in systems that can still get things very wrong.
Navigating AI distrust
At the other end of the spectrum are those who have little to no faith in AI. These require a different set of discussions. The main one is simply a lack of trust:
“We don’t trust AI – it is too dangerous for our environment.”
This concern is valid. AI can hallucinate or show bias, leading to untrustworthy output. But that doesn’t mean it should be avoided entirely. It has its place and its strengths. Your role as an MSP is to be honest and help customers adopt AI in a way that suits their needs.
Encourage them to reskill certain roles to create better prompts and ensure human oversight is in place to validate AI output. While generating content is labor-intensive, reviewing it is less so, making AI a potential cost-saver when used wisely.
As I’ve written before, AI is here to stay and will significantly impact how organizations (and those who supply solutions to them) operate. But unrealistic expectations are everywhere. MSPs can use this moment to reset those expectations and position themselves as trusted guides on the AI journey.
Photo: voronaman / Shutterstock
