Artificial Intelligence
The evil robot overlords are not taking over, Skynet does not exist and for those old enough Orac really was simply a transparent, perspex box.
The noise around AI is deafening and pointless. I am certain that militaries, nation states and billionaire techies are busily creating the next wonder weapon, however when it comes to business and what we are seeing today, AI is more machine learning than intelligence.
The hype around the term artificial intelligence is leading to developments of smart pillows and toothbrushes. Cash is being invested in such nonsense. Some firms are moving away from the actual term ‘artificial intelligence’ as to the extreme of science fiction comes ridicule.
For me, it is the natural evolution of the internet, which has revolutionised business. The world is now a much more accessible place, business can be conducted globally, information is instantly shared and best practise evolves at an unrestricted pace.
AI business tools will yet again accelerate change and bring with it opportunities and threats. This is no different to any other technology, it is only the pace of change, enabled by the internet, that will bring these opportunities and threats more quickly to the business environment.
Tools such as Chatgpt landed in earnest during 2023. The next 3 to 5 years will see an exponential growth in the capabilities of AI and businesses will be revolutionised.
Initially, general content, training, creative presentation, coding, social media, translation, customer service and marketing will be the first to benefit. Each feature image on this website is created by Adobe's AI tool present in its Creative Cloud service. When developing Yonderlife we did not use AI, a year on when developing Squaredeal, about 10% of development has been supported using AI.
These are complex IT solutions, however the ball has started rolling and it is not travelling up hill. I can see a time when voice prompts ask for a complex IT solution such as Squaredeal and the AI writes all the code. If you get to an 80% contribution from AI, the type of people you employ to get a project over the line evolves. Therein are both opportunities and threats.
This image was generated with AI with the text prompt: 'an osterich buries their head in the sand'. I think we can all agree that AI is not the brightest tool in the box. Then again, a bad workman always blames their tools.
AI Machines are always learning, so the old IT consultant adage of 'rubbish in, rubbish out' is now very much out of date.
Your business is missing a trick if not either already using or appraising current AI tools that can save you money.
There are some big claims being made in this boom-time industry. Politicians and Big Tech talk of existential threats to humanity but Chatgpt is currently a basic signposter at best. I believe change will appear more quickly than any other piece of technology. I doubt I'll be making that claim about Chatgpt by 2026.
In terms of business benefits solutions are appearing for the legal profession, marketing is already changed for good and translation has never been easier. You may have come across the usage of AI in medical services, which seems nothing short of a perfect match for me.
A quick search on Google for the best AI tools for business will keep on giving. This blog from Forbes in September 2023 delivers a raft of AI business tools. I find that I am already using 4 of them.
Jodie Cook
Compare the following blog from a few weeks ago in 2024. It is more marketing focused but delivers a very different list.
Alex McFarland
The speed of change in AI is eye watering.
It is fair to say that you could spend hours every day trying to keep abreast of AI developments. Investment funds seem to be pouring billions into the sector. You may hear about AI developments in healthcare where the time taken for early diagnosis of breast cancer can be done in a fraction of the time. You may hear that Google are shedding thousands of jobs to focus on its AI offering. You may even hear about AI software that is being deployed to alleviate bus bunching.
The fact is that AI is going to change the way we operate, whether its your business, your suppliers or your customers. At the very least your accounting package will be looking at AI enhancements, your marketing should already be taking advantage of some fantastically mature AI solutions and sales should be looking at harnessing the benefits of AI right now.
