A cautious adopter
I’m not an early adopter of technology. I prefer to wait until the boom period settles and the cracks appear. That instinct saved me from investing in a Betamax system, though I’ve sometimes worried that my cautious approach might leave me behind in business.
One thing I’m certain of: artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), and machine learning (ML) are here to stay. In fact, they’ve been around much longer than most people realise. Every time we touch a smartphone, run a web search, or interact with a chatbot, we’re engaging with AI in one form or another. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle, and there’s no way of putting it back.
I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeonly old sceptic, but I do have real concerns about the widespread use of AI, particularly its impact on franchising and, more broadly, on intellectual property (IP).
Why IP is the DNA of franchising
IP is the DNA of a franchise model. Most businesses that franchise don’t operate in a unique sector, think coffee, burgers, home care, pet sitting, vehicle repair or valet. What they do have is a unique brand, a way of taking that brand to market, a particular style of customer service, and, for food-based franchises, their own menu. Over time, they refine their standard operating procedures (SOPs) through piloting and network growth. What franchisees buy into is not just a name, but a know-how that may not be unique to the world, but is tailored for that business’s success.
So why would anyone think it acceptable to have a manual of SOPs written by ChatGPT or another AI tool?
The benefits and the risks
The benefits are obvious: it saves time, sparks ideas, and can introduce new perspectives. But here’s the rub, it’s built on someone else’s IP. These tools draw on vast amounts of online content, some of it inaccurate, some of it potentially plagiarised, and all of it stripped of the subtle nuances that make a business distinctive. Those secret ingredients, the “special bit” of a model, are precisely what risk being lost.
If everyone relies on AI to produce SOPs, what happens when every business ends up doing things the same way, with only a different logo slapped on top? Do we want a one-size-fits-all approach to franchising? Will we one day ask AI “how do I make a good cup of tea?” and accept the blandest answer possible?
The danger of generic processes
Part of the danger is our own reading habits. Human brains are brilliant, but they adapt by skimming and filling in gaps. That’s fine when you’re breezing through a newspaper, but not when you’re creating instructions that others will follow to the letter. I often use the cup-of-tea example in training. Ask AI, and you’ll get a generic method. But then think about how you do it: pot versus mug, bag versus loose leaves, milk first or last. Maybe even microwaving the whole lot. These are the nuances that matter.
Amplify those differences, and you’ve got a business with personality. Flatten them out, and you’ve got something anyone could design online.
How I use AI, with caution
Hands up, I do use AI to generate content. I might ask it how to fry chicken in a commercial setting, or what the health and safety implications are, or what options exist for coatings. Then I take a red pen to it. Then I ask my client to check it. And often they’ll say, “no, we do it differently, we coat the chicken in a bag, or a box, or with a spray method.” That’s the point. Once those details are included, we’ve captured their way, not just “a way.” And crucially, it’s kept private, so the AI model can’t recycle it into someone else’s manual.
One of my clients even prescribes exactly how a franchisee should approach a customer at their home. What you carry to the door, what you say first, and why. That level of specificity comes from lived experience, not from an algorithm.
AI done right
That’s why I’m excited by developments like the AI model created by Penny Hopkinson (author of Manual Magic). Her “Manual Magic AI” is designed so you can write your SOPs using your own IP, private, secure, and tailored. This is AI used in the right way, by someone who knows exactly what franchisors need.
And crucially, humans still have a role: editing, checking, and ensuring the content reflects the business’s real-world way of operating.
Perhaps, after all, we can see AI not as artificial intelligence, aggravating idiocy, or alarming imperfection, but as abundant impact.
