A.I. – Will it Help You or Hurt You?

There’s been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (A.I.). Some of it comes from experts, some of it doesn’t.

In this less-than-5-minute video, our CEO, Chuck Brown, gives you his take based on actually using some A.I. tools. Watch for a measured perspective from someone who has spent decades in the Information Technology (IT) field, and get some context with his examples.

Then, scroll down for more resources, videos, and information to try these tools out for yourself.

A transcript of the video is below.

 

Dive Into Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

When you’re ready to try some things out for yourself, there are lots of places to go. These are my top 5 recommendations:

1. ChatGPT – This is the large language model chatbot Chuck talks about in the video above. ChatGPT 3 is the free version. Keep in mind it does not have any data past September 2021.
2. Google’s Bard – This chatbot is free to use with a Google account, although you may have to get on a waiting list.
3. Bing – Microsoft’s search engine Bing has incorporated AI that you can use to ask questions, write a poem, plan a trip, get health tips and more. Microsoft is also rolling out Copilot, which will transform how businesses communicate, analyze, and perform, so look for more on that soon.
4. Watch this video describing 10 free useful A.I. tools complete with links.
5. Visit theresanaiforthat.com. to find hundreds of A.I. tools. Some are free, some aren’t, and you can search in a variety of ways to get whatever you could want.

 

If you’re just getting started, it can feel overwhelming how much is already available. So keep in mind that you don’t have to use every tool. Many might be fun, while others may help you learn, or be a complete waste of time. What’s important is that you remember not to share any private information, whether personal or for business, and that you verify any results you get.

A.I. isn’t going away, so it will become critical to know how and when to use it (or not). Your business will likely want to create a policy or SOP so everyone follows the same guidelines. If you want help with that or anything else business technology-related, please contact us today.

 

‘A.I. – Will it help you or hurt you’ Video Transcript

Artificial Intelligence. War Games. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Just the names conjure up images of Schwarzenegger’s Terminator taking over the world.

Today we’re going to talk about AI. What is it? What does it mean? And more importantly, is it going to help you or harm you?

A simple definition of artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer, or a robot controlled by a computer, to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment. But that kind of relegates A.I. to just things like the robots that we see building automobiles. That’s not what’s caused all the buzz today. A.I. isn’t anything new; the term was first coined in 1955, but the root concepts can be traced back to the 1300’s.

But what does it really mean to you and I, and why is this happening now? Well, there are several factors. The computational power of computer hardware in datacenters has exploded, and real AI takes a lot of power. Programming languages that are used for A.I. work have improved tremendously. Venture funds to develop the ‘next big thing’ are flowing. And that tremendous amount of ‘big data’ in the cloud that’s available for analysis has grown with the expansion of the internet and cloud resources.

You may have heard about a web tool called ChatGPT. That’s the technology that got everyone talking. Cyberchat.org says, “ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence chatbot that provides human-quality responses to questions in an awe-inspiringly creative, detailed and eerily conversational manner.”

You can ask ChatGPT a question; say, “explain quantum theory in less than 200 words in language a 12-year-old can understand”, and you get a response back that actually makes sense.

One curious thing about ChatGPT is that all its knowledge is based on data that was loaded in September 2021. So, it knows nothing since that time. It’s a fun tool and free – you should try it. Keep in mind, though, that there’s no guarantee an answer is correct; they usually are, but ChatGPT only knows what it was told.

It can be a great assistant… try a question like, “write a 12 slide PowerPoint on trends in the cyber insurance industry” and see what happens. I’ll come back to this in a minute.

But what A.I. excels at is analysis. It can look at millions of transactions and find patterns and trends. Think about analyzing customer data. Or take the case of CVS and the flu. CVS CMO Norman de Greve said, “Utilizing IBM Watson’s AI-powered tool, we had the ability to predict flu risk down to a U.S. zip code, enabling us to leverage predictive illness data and promote awareness and recommendations for flu prevention within those at-risk communities,”

So, they used A.I. to evaluate millions of drug transactions and find the patterns that occurred before a flu outbreak, which were a leading indicator of the flu outbreak.

What about in everyday life? Hardee’s has implemented A.I. in their drive through windows. Their bot is named “Tori,” and she takes customer orders, verifies them, and always tries to upsell. According to the company, the A.I. is being used to provide better service and free up staff to have time for more personal attention, not to replace staff.

So what does all of this mean to you? Will A.I. steal your job? There’s no question A.I. is a powerful tool that can provide insights and do some tasks far better than we can. There’s also no question that A.I. will take some jobs. But for now, the best use of A.I. is alongside of us.

Let’s go back to that PowerPoint I talked about. ChatGPT is text only, so when it generated a 12 page PowerPoint, it was titles and some content for each page rather than a real PowerPoint. There is other technology that will generate the presentation for you, although it may not be free.

Even so, using that tool to create a presentation in a fraction of the time, letting it do the research and you simply review and add your own knowledge, experience and personality to it will have the best outcome.

A.I. is going to get smarter and smarter. Like many things we humans create, it can do great good or great harm and the implications of the decisions we make today aren’t always clear. Does A.I. ‘think’ or can A.I. be ‘creative’? Well, much of what we call creativity is thought that we put together from all of our experiences, which is data, so A.I. can or will certainly appear to be creative. Original thought, however? That’s a discussion about philosophy for another day.

I asked chat.gpt how I should close these remarks. It replied with, “In closing, let us embrace A.I. as a powerful ally, but also approach it with caution and respect. By doing so, we can unlock its full potential and build a world where artificial intelligence coexists harmoniously with humanity, pushing the boundaries of innovation and enriching our lives in ways we cannot yet fully comprehend.”

Sounds like something one of us would have said!