By now if you have not heard about, read about or even discussed AI (Artificial Intelligence) with a friend, a business colleague or even your significant other you must be coming out of COVID hibernation, from a dark place with zero internet connectivity. Do not worry though, you are not the only one not fully understanding the depth and scope of “AI” or what it does for that matter.
According to Pew Research conducted late in 2023, the data suggests that only one-in-three adults surveyed said they’ve heard a lot about it, while most Americans (90%) say they’ve heard at least a little about artificial intelligence. Not only was awareness low, but there was also serious concern about how AI is or will be used in daily life.
Since the AI topic has taken every business sector by storm and many of my food industry contacts are telling me it will transform everything we know and do in our industry, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a step back and provide you with some simple insights on AI or artificial intelligence – beyond the impact on the food business (something for another article sometime soon).
The craze of the technology world and the proclaimed most influential discovery since the internet and the apple phone was created is here and it is taking over – everything! It was about a year ago when the new big bang occurred. OpenAI a US research company founded in 2015 released a product called ChatGPT, an application (app) that could at its simplest terms enable human interaction with complex computer algorithms. An extremely advanced chatbot, it is very response and always running to capture as much intelligence and data as possible. Think of it as the next generation of digital voice-activated smart assistants like Amazon’s AMZN Alexa, Apple’s AAPL Siri, and Google’s GOOG Assistant.
Of course, once ChatGPT was introduced into the marketplace, all the tech giants released their own versions of these artificial intelligent next generation chatbots. Google immediately introduced us to Bard; Microsoft MSFT placed OpenAI’s model into its Bing search engine (Microsoft was an early investor of OpenAI so they were aligned early in the development of this innovation); Meta débuted LLaMA; and Anthropic came out with Claude. All these apps are intended to assist in getting you organized and make your personal and professional lives much more efficient and productive. No matter which AI chatbot one you choose they are all ready to take on any of your daily tasks, no matter the scale and complexity.
So, you see there’s nothing to worry about. You are now up to speed on what all the fuss is about!
What? You are still confused on what it can actually do for you, given you do not have an Alexa, Siri or any other type of techno-helper. Well, you will need to start by examining yourself and your daily habits. Consider pain points or areas you would like to be better organized in. Consider using it to sort data or relevant information you are gathering for family budgeting purposes, or bill-pay priorities and deadlines. Use it to manage your family calendar and automating email responses or even the generating of shopping lists. Once you have clear personal goals that align to your priorities then you can begin to rely on your preferred AI “chat-app” to talk you through what needs to be accomplished.
Again, you are not alone in your concern for how artificial intelligence can impact your daily life. As demonstrated in the Pew research data displayed in the accompanying bar chart, the rate of adults “more concerned than excited” has continued to increase over the last three year to approximately 52% in 2023 of the adults participating in the pew survey.
Percent of US adults concerned about AI in daily life far outweighs excitement.
It is too early to understand the tremendous potential AI has on our personal and professional lives given the low rates of awareness and actual use. Only time will tell where these, for now unregulated, technology tools will make a positive impact. It is however incumbent on all of us to become even more educated and expand our intelligence on what the “artificial” intelligence is capable of. Algorithms that drive these inventions are only as effective as our own use and predictable behaviors – so take the liberty to be a little unpredictable every once in awhile so that your uniqueness can be captured. AI chat-apps are only as smart as you lead them on to be!
