Why you need to start using AI in your business
Get on board with AI now, if you don´t want to be left behind while others reap the benefits of modern technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) I and especially ChatGPT is taking the world by storm at the moment. But why is it so useful, and how do you get started using it? We have asked Andrew Louder, Founder of Louder CO five questions that might help you take the leap into artificial intelligence.
Andrew is the founder and CEO of the consultancy Louder Co. They help businesses change the way they operate so they can become more profitable. Andrew has spent 16+ years in Management Consulting, where he’s previously worked for big name firms like KPMG and EY in their Strategy and Operations advisory practices. Louder Co. takes his and his team’s big company experiences to help businesses of under $100M in annual revenues. They do it by making operations more efficient and productive the old-fashioned way by improving processes, and the more innovative way by implementing AI solutions.
What is AI, and how does it work?
“AI is the ability for a machine to mimic intelligent human behavior. The goal is to make a machine that can make predictions and forecasts just like humans can. If you give an AI an image of blue skies and sunshine, the machine uses the information it has been fed earlier to draw the conclusion, that it isn’t going to rain.”
What is the single best argument for any reluctant company to start using AI strategically?
“Over the last six years, there´s been a movement called the democratization of AI. Big web providers have been developing tools and workflows to enable just about anybody to create AI applications. And for businesses like ours, that means we now have AI applications that can solve a number of business problems. We can reap the benefits of this today. These tools are inexpensive, fast to implement and drive massive ROI´s, productivity gains and efficiency gains. The sooner you are able to put your hand on these AI tools and put them into your business, the better you are going to be compared to a competitor who is lagging behind. Artificial intelligence is only getting smarter over time, so allowing yourself to use it is only going to widen the gap between you and your competitors.”
Why are the days of AI being unattainable and intimidating over? How have we been used to perceive AI? And how has this changed?
“The perception of AI oftentimes is negative and scary. Fear of AI is driven by the media and movies, for example Terminator, where AI runs wild and takes over the world. Unfortunately, our brains always go to the worst-case scenario. In the world of business, what I hear a lot of leaders say is that they are very worried about security, data breaches and employees misusing AI. This can create a sort of paralysis among businesses leaders when talking about bringing artificial intelligence into their work. There are a lot of negativity out there, but when it comes to AI and Generative AI, we are the ones in the driver’s seat, we are the drivers, we have our hands on the wheel, and where we want to go, is where we are going to take it.”
How easy is it to start using AI and ChatGPT?
“It has never been easier than it is today. The underlying technology for ChatGPT has been out for a year or two. The new easy-to-use chat interface has made it explode in popularity, bringing power and simplicity to the masses. Anybody can use it; any generation can use it. I´ve shown it to my kids, who are under the age of ten, and they are starting to use it, and I have also introduced it to people from the baby-boomer generation, and they are using it as well. Chat GPT specifically has a very easy-to-use interface. Where it gets a little bit more complicated, is that we are starting to see Generative AI get latched on to different productivity tools like Microsoft Co-pilot or Google Workspace, where you have to take a few extra steps to learn how to generate prompts that are going to create the right response. So yes, there will be a learning curve to accomplish that, but it is not very steep. You do need to have a proactiveness and acceptance from the employee standpoint to learn what needs to be learned and buy into the idea.”
What are the odds that an AI will gain consciousness and take over your computer and your company anytime soon?
It won’t happen anytime soon. Innovations are coming out all the time, and it´s hard to know what is going to be generated in the world of AI, but I do know for a fact, that it won´t happen to us here in the near future. We still need to get acclimated to AI, we want to reap the benefits of it for our businesses, and I think a lot of the leaders in AI are putting protections in place to keep us safe from it.
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