What an AI Employee Cannot Do Depends on What You Allow

The term has no single meaning. Some vendors use it for a chat assistant, others for software that takes actions in other systems, and others for a tool that drafts work for a person to approve. The limits follow from three things: what the product can reach, what the vendor can show it does, and who answers when it gets something wrong. So a list of limits for one product tells you little about the next. Ask each vendor for its own list, and check it with the same questions.

Start with authority, because it decides how far a mistake can travel. Write down every system and every kind of data the product can read. Then mark which of them it can change, and whether any change happens without a person approving it first. A tool that only drafts for review carries a different risk from one that sends messages or edits records on its own.

• Which systems and data can it read, and who granted that access?
• Which of them can it change, and can any change happen without a person's approval?
• Who can switch its access off, and how fast?
• Is there a log of what it read and what it produced?

Next, ask for proof of what it does. Regulators are paying attention to AI claims too. In April 2025, the Federal Trade Commission issued a proposed order requiring a company that sells AI detection tools to stop advertising their accuracy without competent and reliable evidence. You can ask any vendor for the same standard of support. Ask for status by feature, because a demo can mix what works today with what is still being tested.

• What works today in the standard product, for a customer like you?
• What has only run in pilots, and what did those pilots show?
• What is planned, not available today, and is any date a commitment or a hope?
• Can you see it work on your own material, not a sample file?

Last, ask about accountability. Someone has to approve each output before it reaches people, own the standard it is built on and act when an error turns up. Some duties cannot move to a vendor at all. OSHA's booklet on training requirements says all training required under the OSHA law must be provided and paid for by employers. That duty stays with you, whatever tool drafts the material.

• Who approves each output before staff or customers see it?
• Who owns the source or standard the output is built from?
• What happens when an error is found, and who tells the people affected?
• Which duties, such as required training, stay with you no matter what?

Put the three areas into one sheet and fill it out for each product you consider. The answers matter less than the evidence behind them. A vendor that cannot answer in writing has given you an answer too.

Here is Elvina's answer to the same questions, in brief. She drafts and delivers training from sources you approve, and a person signs off before anything is published; both are available now. Today our team runs much of this work with you on the platform, and Elvina takes on each step once it is confirmed.

• Drafting lessons, job aids, quizzes and avatar video lessons from approved sources in Creation Studio is available now.
• Capture of sources into Company Knowledge, translation, templates and approval before publication are available now.
• Assignment, groups and progress on the Learning Platform, export as SCORM, xAPI or MP4, and the Web workspace are available now.
• A short pre-interview quiz for candidates and a first-week readiness check are available now; reminders and progress digests are planned, not available today.
• Answers to staff in Chat from approved knowledge, scheduled reports to managers and Elvina working on her own are planned, not available today.
• Elvina does not find or choose candidates, run payroll, handle pay or benefits, change your other systems or promise results.
• In health care, home care, dental and similar fields, Elvina covers service and administrative routines only, never clinical training.

Because each program sets its own rules for courses, instructors and records. OSHA notes that its voluntary outreach courses are not a certification and do not meet the training requirements of OSHA standards. Under EPA's lead renovation program, for example, anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 must hold certification.

The courses come from training providers accredited by EPA or an authorized state or tribal program. Elvina does not grant certifications or stand in for such a course. She can turn your own company procedures around that work into lessons, which is available now. If you are unsure whether a topic falls under a program, ask the agency or your industry association first.

A fictional painting contractor works on homes of every age. The owner writes down everything he hopes an AI employee could take off his plate, then runs each wish through the three-part check.

• Turning his surface prep checklist and cleanup routine into lessons and job aids: drafting only, with his approval, available now.
• Reminding new painters to finish their lessons: planned, not available today, so he follows up in person during his pilot.
• Answering crew questions from the job site in Chat: planned, not available today, so job aids stay on their phones for now.
• Training painters for lead-safe work on older homes: no, that course comes from an accredited provider.
• Posting job ads and picking applicants: no, he keeps that work, although a short pre-interview quiz is available now.
• He ends up with a narrow pilot and a written note of what stays with him.

Check the limits in practice, not only on paper. During a pilot, watch for moments when people expect the tool to do something it should not, and note what happened.

• Requests from staff or managers that fall outside what the product does.
• Drafts that went out without the named approver's sign-off, which should be none.
• Pilot items that worked as described, and items that did not.
• Training a program requires, still tracked with its own provider and records.
• Time your approver spends on each draft, so the review stays real rather than a click.

What can an AI employee not do? It depends on the product and the access you grant, so check what it may touch, what evidence backs its claims and who approves its output. Elvina's limits are fixed: she does not find or choose candidates, run payroll, handle benefits, grant certifications, replace required training, change your other systems or promise results.

• Will Elvina's limits change over time? Some will. Planned items, such as answers in Chat, may become available, and pilot items may become standard once confirmed. The limits on certification, required compliance training, payroll and changes in your other systems are not on the plan to change.
• Does Elvina make decisions about employees? No. Progress records show who finished; detailed quiz answers and scores are not stored. A readiness check in the first week is available now. Whether someone is ready, stays or moves up is a decision for a manager who has watched the work.

Public sources, checked on the date shown.

• In April 2025 the FTC proposed an order barring an AI detection company from advertising accuracy without competent and reliable evidence. Source: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/04/ftc-order-requires-workado-back-artificial-intelligence-detection-claims (checked 2026-10-02).
• OSHA says all training required under the OSHA law must be provided and paid for by employers; its outreach courses are not certification. Source: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA2254.pdf (checked 2026-10-02).
• EPA requires certification for anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in pre-1978 homes, childcare facilities and preschools, through accredited training providers. Source: https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-renovation-repair-and-painting-program (checked 2026-10-02).