Core question
Is "how can AI save us money" the right question?
Short answer
It is the wrong question, and we hear it constantly. Cost cutting is not the same as differentiation. The executives focused only on savings are optimizing for expenses rather than for what makes customers prefer them. That is a defensive posture in a period that rewards offense.
Geoffrey Moore's distinction between core and context is the most useful frame I have found for this decision.
Core is whatever differentiates you from your competition and causes customers to prefer doing business with you. Context is everything else, where the goal is to meet expectations as efficiently as possible and not disappoint.
Context divides again. Enabling context is low-value routine work that should be automated or outsourced as much as possible: facilities, payroll, food service. Mission-critical context directly affects a key constituency, where there is no prize for doing it exceptionally well but severe penalties for falling short. Companies tend to over-resource mission-critical context to reduce risk, which ties up capacity that should be going to core. The result is a weakened core.
That is the real AI decision. Automate and outsource enabling context aggressively. Right-size mission-critical context so it stops consuming resources it does not need. Then put the freed capacity into what actually differentiates you.
Executives focused on savings are not thinking long-term. They are trying to shave expenses and sometimes people. That is not innovation. What matters is not cutting costs. It is creating differentiation customers can feel.