The Hidden Costs of Bad AI: When Automation Becomes Your Biggest Expense

The Hidden Costs of Bad AI: When Automation Becomes Your Biggest Expense

Bad AI is expensive, because you pay for the mess it leaves behind. This no‑fluff tactical episode is for non‑technical D2C founders and ops leads who want real results from AI, not hype.

With a focus on sales outreach, Leo (Founder, Ascend AI) breaks down the hidden costs draining your margins and gives you a playbook you can run this week.

You’ll learn:

1. The 100:1 Rule: when one AI mistake wipes out a hundred wins, aka where a human gate is non‑negotiable.
2. The 9 cost buckets that blow up P&L: rework, exception AI babysitting, trust/churn, legal exposure, data leakage, drift/decay, token creep, shadow AI, and vendor lock‑in.
3. What happens when automation misfires: Air Canada’s chatbot ruling and Deloitte’s hallucinated report and why “the bot did it” won’t save you.
4. The outreach playbook that protects margin: start in low‑regret zones, instrument everything, add guardrails, A/B test weekly, and many more for your revenue health.
5. How to price the downside to ensure your ROI projections are obtained with AI.
6. Outreach traps to avoid: deliverability dips from volume spikes, discount leakage, and creepy personalization, and how to fix each fast.
7. The 7 red flags your AI is burning cash right now (flat replies, rising unsubscribes, margin drop and more).
8. And other valuable insights to scale the right way with AI

Connect with me:

1. X: ⁠Leo Sadeq⁠

2. LinkedIn: ⁠Leo Sadeq⁠

3. Let us 2X-5X your ROI in 90 days. ⁠Ascend AI⁠