The last 3 years have been crazy. From COVID in 2020 and the shift to remote work and now to hybrid, to whatever is next. However, one of the most exciting changes is the rapid move into the mainstream for generative AI. This technology transforms how people work, communicate, and collaborate, providing employees with new tools to increase productivity and efficiency. In this blogger’s opinion, it’s also being misused or interpreted as a tool that it’s not. Bill Gates, the famed Microsoft founder and futurist, says that tools like ChatGPT will change the internet, and ultimately, search will be fundamentally changed.
Bill Gates: AI means ‘you’ll never go to a search site again’ | Fortune
I am thrilled to have the ability to utilize tools that can automate tasks, rewrite content, and overcome writer’s block. As a 40-year-old male, I relish everything that allows me to be a little lazy. These tools enhance productivity and efficiency, enabling us to do more with less time. It appears that the long-awaited objective of “doing more with less” is finally within reach. It’s been an interesting experience over the last several months to try to incorporate tools like chat-got into my daily life. I can say it’s helping with a lot of tasks that I would normally struggle to complete quickly. I’ve been using Grammly’s new GrammarlyGO product, which is infused with ChatGPT-3. I frequently use Google’s Bard and OpenAI’s chat GPT. I like GrammarylyGO for writing, bard for idea generation and summarization, and OpenAI for coding and technical details.
Here are a few of my most common use cases:
- Quick Emails: I can’t remember the last time I wrote a brief email by myself. I still write ones that require a lot of context or thought. For quick notes, I tend to make bullet points and use tools like GrammarlyGO or Bard to summarize them for me. Am I getting lazier or smarter?
- Code Snippets: Long live Stack Overflow. Oh wait, ChatGPT can do that? Long live ChatGPT. I don’t code as much as I did 10 years ago, but when I forget something or need an assist, I find myself using the ChatGPT plugin to Visual Code or hitting up CHatGPT before trying a search. I still like StackOverflow, but ChatGPT doesn’t call me a moron for posting a question in the wrong thread.
- Generating new ideas: Was this article my idea? I actually don’t remember. I think so. It’s becoming so common for me to use AI while brainstorming I’m not sure if it was my idea, the AI generating an idea or a hybrid. All the tools I listed above do a great job of helping spur your creative side.
- Improving communication: My writing is weak. When it needs to be more serious, or I need a lift, I can have entire sections of the article rewritten in seconds. Not hours of rewriting, seconds. I was in a meeting the other day, and my boss didn’t like how I had laid out some material in a proposal. I regenerated it, made a few changes, and we were good to go. As an example, here’s this passage again, but rewritten with 3 button clicks. It lacks the casual way I like to blog, but I admit, it’s pretty good.
- I struggle with writing, but I can quickly improve it with the click of a few buttons. Recently, during a meeting, my boss wasn’t satisfied with the way I presented some information in a proposal. I was able to regenerate and make the necessary changes in a matter of seconds, and he was pleased with the final result. As an example, I can easily rewrite this passage with just three clicks.
If you can’t tell, I’m bullish on AI tech. I’m using it to help me with this article. I’m using it to respond to common requests. I’m super excited to get access to the Bard API because I plan to integrate that buffer to help me stage social posts and other material. My surprise has been that some individuals try to use tools like chatGPT for tasks it’s not really designed for. This language model is expertly crafted to analyze patterns and examples from its training, allowing it to generate high-quality content. However, it is important to note that there are certain tasks for which it is not well-suited. Here are a few examples:
- Predicting the Future: As a generative language model, it’s not a generalized AI model or predictive algorithm. I’ve seen people ask ChatGPT to help them with forecasts, and sometimes it will try, but be wary. It will only create something that sounds good, not based on any real statistical models.
- Providing personal, legal, or financial advice: ChatGPT doesn’t have access to personal data or individual circumstances. It should be recommending you get professional help and not general advice.
- Medical diagnosis or treatment: ChatGPT is not a healthcare professional. It has no capability to tell you what’s wrong with you. You’re better off with self diagnosis, which is also problematic. You could also just call a doctor, who may use some type of AI in the office, but it’s not going to be ChatGPT or Bard.
- Proofreading and editing: Yep, you read this right. It’s not good to allow it to blindly change content. It’s a great engine, but it sometimes lacks details and context, so it will make it up. That means if you use it to prove too much of your material, it will likely be inaccurate or be less reliable than a human reader. I’m all for using it as a writing assistant, but at some point, you have to get humans involved.
With all the potential there, we still lack a good system of regulation and responsible use of technology like this. As AI systems become more powerful and pervasive, it is imperative to establish ethical guidelines and legal frameworks to ensure their safe and responsible deployment. Generative AI came out like a lightning bolt, and it’s not been effectively managed. Effective regulation can address concerns such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, transparency, and accountability. Responsible use of AI entails considering the potential societal impacts, conducting thorough risk assessments, and implementing safeguards to mitigate unintended consequences. I think we have a material issue with the tech industry creating tools and not worrying about any of the impact.
That said, it’s still awesome. I’ve been around a lot of shifts in technology, like the cloud, blackberry, machine learning, and others. It’s a lot of fun to see how this kind of stuff plays out. I have the day off today, so I’m going to see if Bard will play Dungeons and Dragons with me, which feels very unlikely given what we just reviewed, but might as well try.
Tools to Try:
GrammarlyGO
Bard (google.com)
ChatGPT