What should I ask to see beyond an AI vendor's prepared demonstration?
The trust discussion at the summit included strong opinions about how technology companies handle risk, and a buyer still needs evidence for the specific use in mind. Ask the vendor to run one difficult but ordinary case from your own work, then record what you saw separately from what remains a claim.
Confidence in a supplier isn't a test result. Pick a case from your own work that's difficult but ordinary, with confidential details removed or an approved example standing in.
Include the constraint that matters, such as a missing source, a policy exception or a document the system shouldn't access. Ask the supplier to show the whole path, from how information goes in to how an unresolved case reaches a person. The final screen alone tells you little.
Let the people who do the work review the result. Find out what they'd need to correct and whether the demo leans on features or services outside the proposed purchase. A useful supplier can explain limitations as well as strengths.