The Role of AI at M&R 360

A Personal View

Within a few days, I started to view Chat GTP more like a parlour trick. It could produce polished sentences and confident explanations, but it felt shallow. However, the more I played with it, the more I realized the problem wasn’t just the tool, it was me. I wasn’t asking good questions. I wasn’t giving it enough context. I wasn’t telling it what “good” looked like. Weak prompts produced weak answers, and those answers still sounded convincing.

Working with a very sharp consultant changed that. I learned how much difference a well‑designed prompt makes: define the role, provide real data, narrow the sources, specify the format, ask it to show its assumptions. Suddenly the results were better—more structured, more usable, and far closer to how I actually think through problems.

But there was still something uncomfortable. AI would give me answers that were flat‑out wrong, and it would do it with a tone of absolute certainty. That bothered me. I don’t mind “I don’t know.” I do mind “I know” when it clearly doesn’t. That’s when I pulled things back and started using AI only with my own data, or with information I already trusted and could verify. The quality jumped, but I still felt a gap.

Over time, I adjusted again. I opened the door to outside information, but only under strict rules: clear instructions about what sources to use, what to avoid, and a requirement for citations so I could go back and check the facts myself. Finally, it was delivering.

AI shifted in my mind from something to fear, to something to joke about, to a helper I couldn’t quite trust, and finally to what it is for me today: a powerful assistant that can do specific work well—as long as I stay in charge.

That last part matters. AI has never replaced my judgment, my experience, or my responsibility to the client. If anything, working with AI has sharpened how I think about those things. It forces me to be clearer about the problem, the context, and the standard I’m willing to accept. AI helps me move faster, but it doesn’t get to decide what “right” looks like. I do.

When I first opened ChatGPT, I had two reactions at the same time: I was genuinely amazed, and I was genuinely worried. On one hand, it was clearly powerful. On the other, I caught myself wondering whether all the years I’d spent in plants, mechanical rooms, and boardrooms were suddenly less valuable. Would my years of experience still matter if you could just “ask the box” for an answer???

Our Position on AI

At M&R 360 Solutions, AI supports the work; it does not replace the work. Used with discipline, it helps us move faster, sort through information, and produce clear draft outputs. It is a tool for structure, not a shortcut for judgment.

AI cannot replace years of experience in facilities, maintenance, and asset management. It does not understand local context, operational politics, or the real‑world consequences of a bad decision. Those still require human thinking, field exposure, and lessons learned the hard way.

So the line is clear: AI works for us and follows explicit instructions. It helps with analysis and communication, but it does not decide what is correct, safe, or appropriate for a client. The accountability for that remains with people, and it stays with me.

Why Experience Still Matters

AI can organize information, but it has never stood in a plant, addressing real equipment failures and unplanned downtime. Real work arrives with missing info, conflicting priorities, and consequences that don’t fit neatly into a model. Experience is what lets you:

• See past the “perfect” answer on the screen

• Sense when a recommendation looks right but feels wrong

• Understand how equipment and process really work

• Recognize failures that don’t show up in a clean data set

That judgment doesn’t come from prompts; it comes from years of real decisions where something was actually at risk. Our view is a person must have that learning curve to use AI safely.

How We Use AI Responsibly

When we use AI at M&R 360, we treat it as part of the work, not a toy. Every prompt has a clear role, context, and purpose: who the AI should “be,” what data it should use, and what output we need. When we use AI we:

• We deliberately point it toward trusted sources

• We ask it to surface assumptions

• We flag uncertainty

• We ask it to show its reasoning so we can review

• We challenge and refine the result

Most importantly, we iterate. If an answer is vague or misses context, we tighten the prompt, add more detail, get better data sources and/ or change the question. AI helps us think and draft faster, but the final judgment call is always human.

What Clients Should Expect

For our clients, this means AI is a support tool inside a disciplined process, not a replacement for it. It helps us develop early drafts faster, structure complex information, and communicate more clearly.

But you still get work grounded in experience, standards, and verifiable sources. Every important conclusion is reviewed by a human who understands the operational context and is accountable for the result.

AI may accelerate the path, but it does not lower the bar.