33 Deploying Artificial Intelligence ^Top its long-term competitive strategy, then figure out whether AI is needed and, if yes, determine how it should go about adopting it. The answer for “how” should first identify quantifiable success criteria; working out the rest like the economics, the people, and the systems can then follow.  Closing Word A I has become ubiquitous and offers tremendous potential to alter our lives and the products and services companies provide. To understand how an organization can best leverage it will require an understanding of its boundary conditions along with its potential and the domains where it can be best put to use. The risk of doing nothing has to be contrasted with experimentation and learning. The spillover effects of pursuing new technologies such as AI will include creating new knowledge in the firm and the result will be seen even in existing products and processes either through lowered costs or enhanced attractive- ness.81 Experimenting with a new technology to enter modest markets and then using that as a springboard to target other markets and domains can be a disruptive strategy for an incumbent. Lastly, firms need to recognize that AI is both an art and a science and it’s not all about a mathematical algorithm. Long-term investment in training and re- skilling employees is key, and so is keeping an eye out for “AI winters,” periods of historical investment drought that occur because of a sudden focus on AI’s hype.  81 Wesley M. Cohen and Daniel A. Levinthal, “Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innova- tion,” Administrative Science Quarterly 35, no. 1 (1990): 128-152, https://doi.org/10.2307/2393553.