# Scope and price an AI automation pilot

By Hammad Yousuf

https://withhammad.com/resources/ai-business/sell-an-ai-pilot

## Who this is for
A business owner with one recurring, measurable workflow problem

## Problem
An open-ended AI proposal hides the deliverable, operating costs, review work and criteria for accepting the result.

## A concrete pilot offer
A fixed-scope pilot brief with a baseline, test cases, acceptance criteria, cost assumptions and handover responsibilities.

## Build steps
1. Choose one recurring task and record its current volume, time and error baseline.
2. Define the inputs, output, integrations, excluded actions and human reviewer.
3. Estimate delivery effort and ongoing costs; agree acceptance tests before starting.
4. Run the pilot on permitted examples and report measured outcomes before proposing expansion.

## Synthetic worked example
Illustrative capacity estimate: 100 cases × 3 minutes ÷ 60 = 5 hours. At AED 60 per hour, that is AED 300 of time capacity before review, software and support costs. It is not revenue or guaranteed cash savings.

## Full prompt
```text
Draft a one-page AI automation pilot brief using VERIFIED DISCOVERY NOTES. Do not invent ROI, revenue, savings or client testimonials. Include buyer problem, baseline, permitted inputs, exact output, integrations, human review, exclusions, acceptance tests, delivery assumptions, recurring cost categories and handover owner. Separate estimates from measured facts. Ask about missing commercial terms rather than choosing them.

DISCOVERY NOTES: [redacted verified notes]
COST INPUTS: [effort, software and support assumptions]
OUTPUT: pilot_brief, open_questions, measurement_plan
```

## Acceptance checks
- Scope names the exact output and excluded actions.
- Value assumptions are labelled estimates.
- Acceptance tests and ownership are agreed before rollout.

## Measure
Observed time saved net of review and operating cost

## Commercial scope
Agree the input volume, permitted data, exact output, integration access, reviewer, test cases, handover and maintenance responsibilities. Estimate effort, software/API costs, review time and support before quoting. These are service ideas and teaching templates, not evidence of demand or earnings.

## Engineering detail
https://withhammad.com/resources/ai-engineering/agent-acceptance-checks