How we use AI

Stories on Back Office Beat are found and first-drafted with AI tools, then edited, checked and published by a named editor. This page explains each step in plain language.

1. What we monitor

We watch a fixed list of sources: vendor news pages and pricing pages (OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Zapier, Make, n8n, QuickBooks, HubSpot, ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro and construction software vendors), vendor status pages for outages, regulators (the FTC, SBA and Department of Labor), and a handful of trade-press feeds and owner forums. Press coverage and forums are used to spot stories only. They are never the source we cite.

2. AI-assisted triage

New items from those sources are sorted by an AI model against one question: does this change what an owner of a 10-to-50-person business should do, buy, cancel or watch this month? The model suggests "keep" or "drop" with a reason. An editor reviews the kept items and can rescue dropped ones.

3. AI-assisted first drafts

For items an editor decides to run, an AI model writes a first draft in our four-part format: what happened, what it means, what to do, and what it costs. The draft is given the primary source to work from.

4. What the editor checks

Before anything publishes, a named editor:

• Opens the primary source and checks every fact, date and number in the draft against it.
• Checks prices against the vendor's live pricing page on the day, and adds "as of" dates.
• Rewrites the worked example so the numbers add up and the assumptions are stated.
• Decides the verdict (try, ignore, cancel, ask your vendor or wait). The AI can suggest one; the editor owns it.
• Cuts anything that cannot be traced to a source.
• Approves publication. The editor's name goes on the item.

5. What AI never does here

• AI never publishes anything on its own. Every item needs an active human editor before it can go live.
• AI never chooses a verdict without an editor's review.
• AI never invents a quote, price, date or statistic that we then print. If the editor cannot find it in a source, it does not run.
• AI never writes the J9 Systems call-to-action text. (J9 Systems publishes this site.) Those are two fixed, approved sentences.
• AI never decides corrections. An editor does, and the correction is dated.

6. How to report an error

Email beat@backofficebeat.com with the link and what is wrong. A person reads every message. If we got it wrong, we correct it and append a dated note to the item. See our corrections policy.