Four pillars of ai

The four pillars of AI are data, algorithms, computing power, and people. Data is what the AI learns from. Algorithms are the steps that tell it how to learn. Computing power is the machinery that does the heavy lifting. People build it, check it, and decide what it's for. Pull out any one of those and the whole thing falls over.

That's the short answer. Below is what each pillar actually means, and why you should care if you run a business.

Why people call them "pillars"

A pillar holds up a roof. Knock one out and the roof sags. AI works the same way. It isn't one magic thing. It's four ordinary things stacked together.

I like to think of AI as a tool, like a calculator. A calculator needs a power source, a chip inside, buttons, and somebody to punch in the numbers. Take away the battery and it's a paperweight. AI is the same idea, just a lot bigger.

You'll see other lists online. Some say the pillars are perception, reasoning, learning, and action. That list describes what AI does. The list in this article describes what AI is made of. If you own a business, the second list is more useful, because it shows you exactly where your business fits in.

Pillar one: data

Data is information. Words, numbers, pictures, reviews, addresses, phone numbers, all of it.

AI tools like ChatGPT (a chatbot you type questions into) and Google's Gemini learned by reading a huge amount of text from the internet. When somebody asks one of them for a plumber in their town, the answer comes from what it has read and what it can look up right then.

That includes your stuff. Your website. Your Google Business Profile, which is the free listing that shows up on Google Maps. Your reviews. Any directory that lists your business.

So here's the part that matters to you. If the information about your business is thin, wrong, or missing, the AI has nothing to work with. It doesn't guess in your favor. It just recommends somebody else.

This is the single biggest reason good businesses get skipped. I wrote more about it in why most businesses are invisible to AI search.

Pillar two: algorithms

An algorithm is a set of steps. That's it. A recipe is an algorithm. So are the directions for putting together a bookshelf.

In AI, the algorithm is the set of steps the computer follows to find patterns in data. It reads a million examples of something and learns what usually goes together. That learning process is called machine learning, and if you want the plain version of how it works, I broke it down in the four pillars of machine learning, explained plainly.

You don't need to understand the math. Here's what you do need to know. These algorithms like information that is clear and consistent. If your business name, address, and hours say one thing on your website and something different on a directory, the algorithm sees a conflict. Conflicts make it less sure about you. Less sure means less likely to recommend you.

Pillar three: computing power

Computing power is the hardware. Giant buildings full of computers, running all day, using a lot of electricity.

This is the one pillar you can't do anything about. Honestly, you don't need to. Big tech companies handle it.

What it means for you is speed. Because there's so much computing power behind it, AI can read your website, your reviews, and every competitor in your town in seconds. It's comparing you to everyone else, every time somebody asks a question. You don't get a pass because you've been in business longer.

Pillar four: people

People are the pillar most folks forget. Humans pick the data AI learns from. Humans write the algorithms. Humans test the answers and correct the mistakes.

And AI does make mistakes. I've had it tell me things with total confidence that were flat wrong. I've also had it spell my own business name wrong, so I can't throw too many stones.

That's why the people pillar matters. AI is a tool. It still needs somebody with judgment checking its work.

There's a second group of people in this pillar too: your customers. They're the ones typing the questions. "Who fixes air conditioners near me." "Best pool service in my area." AI exists to answer those people. If you keep that in mind, the rest of this gets a lot simpler.

How the four pillars work together

Here's the whole thing in one pass:

• Data gives AI something to learn from.
• Algorithms give it a way to learn.
• Computing power lets it learn fast and at huge scale.
• People build it, steer it, and ask it the questions.

None of these work alone. A pile of data with no algorithm is just a pile. A great algorithm with no data has nothing to chew on. Both of them with no computing power would take forever. And without people, nobody would build it or use it.

If you want a wider look at the ideas behind all of this, I wrote about five big ideas in AI and what they mean for you. It pairs well with this one.

Which pillar you actually control

You don't control the algorithms. You don't control the computing power. You don't control the people at the tech companies.

You control one thing: the data about your business.

That's good news, because it's the pillar that decides whether AI recommends you or not. If customers don't see you when they search for your service, you don't exist to them.

So here's something you can do today. Say you install pools. Open ChatGPT in incognito mode, which is a private window with no history or cookies, so it won't be biased by your past searches. Type "pool services near me" with your city name. Look at who comes up.

If you're there, good. If you're not, that's your gap. It usually comes down to a few holes:

• Your website doesn't clearly say what you do and where you do it.
• Your business info doesn't match from one site to the next.
• You don't have many reviews, or you have old ones and nothing new.
• Your Google Business Profile is half filled out.

None of that is fancy. It's just feeding the data pillar good information.

I'll be straight about the limit here. Fixing your data doesn't guarantee AI will put you at the top. Nobody can promise that, and anybody who does is selling you something. What it does is give the AI a fair shot at knowing who you are. Right now a lot of businesses aren't even giving it that.

If you'd rather have somebody handle this for you, that's what we do at Heaston Innovations. You can see what our services cover and decide for yourself if it's a fit.

The bottom line

The four pillars of AI are data, algorithms, computing power, and people. Three of them are out of your hands. The fourth one, data, is all yours.

At the end of the day, AI can only recommend what it knows about. Make sure it knows about you.

Feed it good information. Get found.