AI generated by author
AI is a hot topic right now, but AI itself is not new and has its modern day origins in the 1950s It was the invention of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT in 2023 that re-ignited public interest in this area. In this blog I will give some helpful thoughts and tips around an area that is so prevalent in much of our business conversation these days
Anything is possible … but in a word - “no”. What we are calling “AI” today is predominantly Large Language Models. These models can give the impression that they are in some way alive - listening to what we say, thinking and then responding. However under the hood these models are simply huge databases of content (they periodically download the internet), and complex mathematical models are applied to generate content that is most relevant to the question asked or prompt given. The model is not thinking as we would understand thought, nor does the model have any emotions or desires. Which is not to deny that this is some impressive stuff - but when you reduce it all down - its still good ‘ole mathematics; zeros and ones - the same technology that has powered computers since the 1950s
While AI is unlikely to produce our robot overlords quite yet, there is no denying that AI is good with language and images. Just as a calculator can do huge mathematical calculations, so an LLM is capable of summarising text and producing creative output, drawing on processing power and a knowledge base (the entire internet) that dwarfs the limited brain-power and knowledge we have. Recently Klarna, a payments processing company laid off 700 workers - replacing them with AI chatbots. This is some seriously disruptive technology and underestimating its future impact on our work or our businesses would be a mistake.My recommendation would be to review areas of your work that are repetitive, don’t require much in the way of decision-making and possibly involve language or images in some way. Could those areas be automated? This would free time for you to concentrate on areas where your uniquely human skill set can be applied - for example building relationships, coaching others etc.
I am recommending some cautious adoption of AI technologies. Love it or hate it, AI is here to stay and it makes sense to get to know this new technology, at least at a very high level. Give Microsoft’s bing search engine a try if you haven’t already - it is powered by ChatGPT As an interesting side-note OpenAI - the creators of ChatGPT was recently acquired by Microsoft - something original OpenAI investor Elon Musk hasn’t been too thrilled about.AI models are good at summarising text. So if you have a large document to review - for example an IRD taxation white paper, a legal case study etc, consider providing this to an LLM such as ChatGPT or Claude and asking it to summarise key points. But be cautious. LLMs have a tendency to “hallucinate” - that is, to make stuff up. Make sure you double-check any information you are going to pass on to clients or take action onYou may want to consider using AI to generate some images or text e.g. for a website or a newsletter. Again, double check all content. LLMs such as ChatGPT can produce overly wordy, artificial sounding language - you can mitigate this to a certain extent with your prompt. For example you could begin your instruction with “In a direct, conversational tone …”
Many software products, such as Microsoft’s office suite, Microsoft 365, and more recently Google Workspace are beginning to build AI into their products. This means you don’t need to do anything specific to take advantage of advancements in AI. If you are using AI more directly e.g. to summarise information or generate content then the best way to get a good result is to provide a prompt that is clear. Think about what exactly you want, and then speak to the LLM model as if you were giving instructions to a very (very!) junior employee. If the model still doesn’t get your meaning, then include an example.
If you are considering adopting AI in your business then we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line!
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