Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of common language and everyday life. But while we’ve all heard of the term, not everyone really knows what it is or whether it can be useful for them. Kendra Vant’s recent conversation with Xero explains how we could use AI in our own businesses:
The term ‘artificial intelligence’ has been with us since as far back as 1955, when a number of academics and professionals in the field of technology first proposed a study of the term. That year the first AI programme was developed, and in the many decades since, AI has held an evergreen fascination for the human race.
This fascination led us to experiment our way into the first industrial robot, devise bold predictions about what AI will be capable of in our personal and professional lives, and prompt a raft of popular culture references that captured our hopes, fears and imaginations surrounding the technology — from driverless cars through to robots with empathy, and even foolproof computers incapable of error.
While many predictions, hopes and fears surrounding AI have subsided or been disproven, we’ve gone on to make significant gains with AI in a huge variety of areas. For instance, the fun and time savings we all enjoy from products and services such as Netflix, Spotify and the various app stores we use every day. There’s a lot to be learned from the watching, browsing and purchasing habits of humans around the globe — and this is only possible thanks to AI.
As we’ve seen most recently with the advent of ChatGPT, the hype, fear, and conjecture surrounding AI may never wane. But AI is here to stay. And for those not yet familiar with how to leverage its benefits, it can be the source of great angst — particularly when trying to figure out how to make use of it in your business.
Generally speaking, AI has proven to be fantastic at augmenting or extending human abilities and intelligence.
This is most notable in our interactions with AI-powered products and services. These products are brilliant at learning from the wisdom of crowds, and when millions of users complete billions of small tasks every day, it’s possible to glean significant value in very little time.
Some Notes to working with AI in your business
Just because something is available to use, doesn’t necessarily mean you should use it. If you can figure out the answer to the problem in a couple of seconds — and if five other humans would likely come to the same answer — then AI is likely going to do a reasonable job. If the answer is more complicated or ambiguous, AI is probably not the right tool for that business challenge and humans will likely do a better job than AI — at least for the next few years.
When used well, AI can work in close partnership with humans and accomplish things faster and with less effort.
Data is the food for powerful AI. By feeding AI algorithms with great data, you’re less likely to run into trouble.
Full interview, with examples here: https://www.xero.com/blog/2023/03/what-is-ai-small-business/
