The promise of AI for business
Understanding whether AI has a role in your business
For the past few years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been promoted as a technology that will transform business. It promises to change the landscape by increasing productivity while saving labor, time and money.
At the same time, many employees feel anxious that their jobs will be replaced by a technology platform or by automation. The hype and efforts by tech, software companies and service providers are real. Understanding the truth is the first step toward knowing if it truly helps your bottom line.
Defining AI and its history
AI technology promises to mimic human problem-solving and decision-making skills throughout your business by learning from you and adjusting its results as you supply prompts to refine. The productivity and labor savings sound appealing. Depending on the task, AI supplies a result almost instantly and much quicker than a human. AI is basically a more advanced version of software that's programmed to learn from prompts.
Its history likely began when computing and software became affordable and practical within a business framework. Over time, computing became powerful with software, internet and communication tools. Now it's become an essential part of every business. The progression took time, investment and innovation to realize its potential.
Rapid innovations in technology may overwhelm even the most savvy professional. Where does AI fit into your business? Can it truly improve productivity and profitability? Below are some popular AI-powered platforms that promise to benefit and change the way we work.
Popular AI platforms
Adobe Creative Cloud: Creative pros who subscribe have generative AI available within Illustrator and Photoshop. There are monthly limits to iterations.
Google Gemini: (Formerly Bard) An AI-powered assistant, Gemini helps craft written content by providing suggestions and improvements.
ChatGPT: A language model created by OpenAI, ChatGPT generates text responses and engages in conversations. A tool for natural language and word processing tasks.
Google Search for AI: It's like regular Google but specifically tailored for all your AI-related queries, giving you quick access to information on artificial intelligence.
Grammarly: A writing assistant, Grammarly uses AI to analyze and improve the grammar, style, and tone of written content for writers and professionals. Free and paid versions are available.
Midjourney: Using a Discord account, this AI creates imagery from text prompts for style, content, size and resolution. Subscription needed for commercial use.
IBM Watson: A comprehensive AI platform, IBM Watson includes various services natural language processing, virtual assistants, machine learning, and data analytics, for a wide range of industries through a subscription.
aiXcoder: Tailored for programmers, aiXcoder utilizes AI to assist developers by providing code suggestions and improving coding efficiency.
Google Assistant: Google's virtual assistant, Google Assistant uses AI to understand and respond to user voice commands, providing assistance, information, and smart home control.
Microsoft CoPilot: (Formerly Bing) AI for searches, text or text-to-image generation, code assistance, summaries and more. Available free or a paid version with additional features. GitHub also offers an AI named Copilot available free or through a paid subscription.
Ideogram: An AI design tool assists in creating graphics and images by suggesting design elements and layouts from user prompts.
Where AI shines
If your business involves repetitive tasks like data entry, basic accounting, and possibly assembly jobs, those may be your first target to apply AI technology. It does what you tell it without question and with immediacy. Could AI be the answer to everything?
Where AI falls short
The first popular AI tool was Chat GPT. Your prompts magically supply perfectly-spelled and coherent text. It was the first AI platform of many with which experimented. Could it accelerate my ability to write better copy for clients, and collect research? AI is programming that's created by humans to mimic language, practices, imagery, design and more. Its limitations are based on programming the parameters of those who program it. Human interaction is necessary to judge and refine the results.
Much of the AI result is based on what you ask of it and uses sources already on the internet to generate its response. For the best results, use the thoughtful and specific prompts. New technology usually comes with a catch as your experience can vary from surprisingly good to wanting for a better outcome. It may take a few iterations to get there. We may wish for it to simply read our minds. Not sure I’m ready for that just yet.
Always check to see if the information your AI platform provides is accurate. If it’s writing about a topic you’re unfamiliar with, it may require refinement. Check the terms and conditions for your AI. Free versions may be less accurate or not protect you from liability. A bias may exist in its programming and sourcing that affects its work product. Google Gemini has temporarily halted use of its image generation feature for this reason.
Consider your AI choice carefully
Ownership: Is your AI choice learning from you to share with others? Is my intellectual property kept confidential? Like any other new technology, it’s important to understand how and why you may integrate AI into your business. Protecting your privacy is paramount, especially with cloud-based platforms.
Productivity: It takes time to understand each AI tool and where it can help your business succeed. Do I want AI to make critical business decisions without my involvement? What if it can’t read my mind in writing, computing or judgment? It may be taking more of my time to get there. Use it only where it is a true benefit to meet your specific needs.
Price: Most software comes with a price. It’s no different with AI. Is it a flat fee or by each iteration? Some offer a free trial with fees past a set number of credits or iterations. For creatives, there can be limitations to resolution, format and commercial licensing of the end product as the results may be derivative.
AI Tips
Research yourself: It’s worth exploring to see where it can help your business succeed. Pay attention to how the AI works. Some AI platforms allow you the ability to adjust the settings to benefit your business to protect your intellectual property. Look to find the best available prompt options to achieve the best results for each platform.
Collaboration: Take some time to experiment and team up with others to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each. Watch some demonstration videos. Include key stakeholders and trusted peers to evaluate and discuss your impressions with each platform. It has helped accelerate my own AI exploration and evaluation process. Clear choices will emerge as you compare.
Start with a small trial: Once you choose to adopt one or more AI platforms, consider a small-scale trial before a full implementation. Review and adjust its use along the way.
AI in design
With design and image creation, many AI tools don’t create professional quality files necessary for reproduction with printers as well as uniform and promotional or embroidery companies. It can be part of a first creative pass to generate additional directions or explore rough image ideas. I incorporate within workflow where timing and budget allow. AI is still in its infancy and there are limitations in its ability to generate predictable results. Creativity involves nuance of imagery and language that AI doesn’t currently address with consistency. There can also be issues with licensing and commercial use limitations since the results are derivative. It is best used as a possible tool to assist with the exploration process. To ensure better results, it's best to start from your original outline or list of ideas.
Parting thoughts
Remember your customers are humans and not robots. Judgment should be factored into the degree to which we incorporate AI into our business. All new technologies have advantages and disadvantages. Involving humans along the way ensures the best end product. AI is programmed like software and should be judged on how it fits with and benefits the productivity and profitability of your business. In the future, AI will become a powerful tool that saves all businesses time and expense, while enhancing productivity. It’s up to each of us to decide when and where to apply it. As the shortcomings are addressed, AI will improve and become more useful as the technology matures.
In my experience, clients want a human voice and judgment to assist them with identifying insights, developing strategies, ideas, copy content and design that connect with their audience. Like any other software, it’s a tool I will turn to for assistance along the way. Business reputations are based on technology alone, but the efficient and effective use of it. Let’s discuss how we can work together (with or without AI) to build your brand to flourish.