Here’s how I use AI at work.
Artificial intelligence (AI) have recently made headlines as a new and more effective way to produce content. Because of its efficiency, AI is revolutionising the world at an unprecedented rate. From ChatGPT to DALL-E and Bard, AI tools are becoming an integral part of our lives. Most workers are moving to them instead of working by themselves. Most companies have even been implementing AI into their own tools as well.
At work, I add AI into the emails I write to people. The hope was that by doing so, I could speed up my writing process. I went ahead and used AI when outlining and drafting emails or even preparing for the summary reports. Here’s what two weeks of incorporating AI looked like and how my thoughts on AI tools have changed.
How I incorporate AI
When it came to choosing which AI tools to use, I opted for convenience. I’m constantly working in Notion AI and ChatGPT for outlining and brainstorming purposes.
I never prompted the AI to write out a full writing for me, but instead just asked questions to help me generate ideas. Throughout the course of two weeks, I mostly ended up using AI for:
- Outlines
- Guest speaker questions
- Suggestions for certain messages
- Brainstorming introductions
Working with AI
One way AI is transforming the workplace is by automating repetitive tasks.
For example, I could quickly outline various topics or emails with AI. Even with a few tweaks here and there, seeing the AI’s response has help me better articulating my thoughts. This really helped because sometimes when starting out a new piece of writing about a complex, heavy topic, I can have a bout of writer’s block and using AI essentially fixed that. AI has also helped with the order of this post as well as some of the main points in each section.
I found that using AI tools were a great way to boost my productivity. I was invited as a guest speaker for CIOB and I was able to generate a list of ten thoughtful ideas in seconds with the help of AI. While I did edit and tailor the ideas to better fit my discussion topic, this was a huge help at a moment when I really needed it.
Overall, it felt like brainstorming was easier thanks to AI. And here are some other major advantages that we cannot ignore:
- Faster processing time.
- Reduced time for searching information.
- AI is much more than just a tool for automating repetitive tasks.
AI has its drawbacks, and one of them is its lack of accuracy. I would still have to correct the AI or put in some time editing the work. Another issue I had was that oftentimes the copy felt quite repetitive. Whether it was the AI repeating the same word over again or just the sentiment, this was a reminder that AI is simply reciting everything that has already been written before. Although that can sometimes make for decent copy, it’s not original and groundbreaking work. This is why ‘real’ work and efforts should still be valued, in my opinion.
My approach to AI
I value transparency. Which is why I can be so frank about my use of this technology.
I also think that AI will never replace human creativity but be a sidekick that assists us and that can actually unlock a lot of potential for opportunities (if they provide the right answer). Although, it’s becoming clear that AI may be able to help many people communicate in more complex ways than before, we cannot fully be dependent on AI. AI can only piece together bits of information from what’s already out there so we will still need to filter information that are unnecessary, make edits for word choice and clarity. If we gain the right skills, we can work with AI efficiently and I believe that AI tools can make us more intelligent in the way we work.
The future AI?
It seems to me that people are abusing ChatGPT to showcase ‘copy and paste’ texts will be exposed sooner or later for 1 simple reason — they won’t have identity in their work. After a while we could easily tell the work was not human made — because it will be either too perfect or completely soulless, or both.
The drawbacks of AI have demonstrated that this technology is not more capable than humans, it also highlights the worrying fact that people are being undermined and undervalued because of these tools.
The one thing that gives me peace of mind is that I don’t think AI could ever replace human ingenuity. There are also certain skills, including socialising, being creative and expressing to emotions, that AI just can’t do yet.
After all, can we just appreciate how this is an exciting time to be alive? It’s also an exciting time to think, create and produce. We’re still better than AI at doing exciting things.
