The Tech Superfood

In recent years, A.I., or Artificial Intelligence, has taken over as the latest tech innovation and trend. With OpenAI in 2020 announcing GPT3, A.I. has quickly grown to become a formidable force in forwarding human-machine relations. As with any emerging invention, especially in the tech space, there often follows significant hype and exaggeration when it comes to its benefits. A.I is no exception to this phenomena. These speculations often look like debates on the dangers of the invention, paranoias about its impact on the economy and an attack on human employment, investor buzz surrounding its money-making potential, and marketing overload of why one should have A.I in their product– playing into FOMO (fear of missing out) tactics. The obsession with A.I. has come so far that it won't be long before we start speculating about the health benefits of A.I. in a sprinkled donut.

To curb your A.I. cravings, we will be breaking down some of the hype and side effects, when deciding to embark on your A.I. journey so that you can make conscious and informed decisions on how to make the most of this new and exciting tech superfood.

‍

1. Instant Image Generation

One of the most common hyped benefits of A.I is its ability to generate image and video content. Through entering a string of prompts into a relevant program–most notable ones are ChatGPT & DALL-E–you can generate images almost instantly. This is great for those looking for a rapid-fire way to get custom images made in your desired style.

Side Effects‍
‍Although A.I is a great tool to help you generate images quickly, there are some downsides to keep in mind. As it is still an emerging technology, it isn’t perfect yet. When generating images, especially those with animals or people, make sure to look at the quality of the image you received. There is a possibility that some distortion may have occurred in the image. Users report humans with missing or fused fingers, blurring or smudging in the background, or images that don’t align with the prompt entered.
‍
‍Rounding Out
‍Whether these images serve as inspiration, a quick and visual way to see your ideas, or imagery in social posts and campaigns A.I is a great tool to consider for your imagery needs.

‍

2. Chatbot Personal Assistants

Looking for someone to handle customer service for you 24/7? Consider incorporating an A.I chatbot to your business operations to handle customer questions and requests. This is great for those looking to automate some of their business practices via the help of machines. With an A.I chatbot, you’ll be able program it to best fit the needs of your business such as pulling customer data to review account information, directing customers to varying resource links, and even processing payments.

Side Effects
Having a machine handle your customer service will definitely offer a lift on your business’s workload, but limitations apply. As A.I is still an developing tool, you will have to keep in mind that natural errors will occur such as glitches or bugs that may interrupt the proper function of the bot. Also, keep in mind that whatever the bot isn’t programmed to do–due to technological limitations or business budgeting–will have to be handled by a human–so a human representative will need to be on standby to take over in those nuanced situations.

‍Rounding Out
Automating some of your customer service processes using A.I is a great way to reduce and optimize your business operations, while having some humans on standby to make sure everything runs smoothly.

‍

3. Pro Content Writer

Want to level-up your writing? Consider incorporating A.I into your workflow. One of the most major impacts A.I has had in its emergence is its ability to generate text content and even write longer form content like essays. Students often use programs, like ChatGPT, to help them write their papers. Content creators or influencers use A.I to generate captions for photos. Businesses use A.I to develop marketing language or generate marketing ideas. The mechanism is the same as to generate text content as image content, by means of entering prompts into your desired program.
‍
Side Effects
Never having to write a paper again sounds like a dream come true, but do keep in mind some of the consequences. As pushback against the use of A.I in general, as well as in certain industry spaces, tools have been developed to be able to detect if a piece of content was created via A.I or by a human. So if you are a student looking for an easy A or a writer looking to bolster your portfolio, be wary that your audience might have some tools at hand to catch you “cheating”. Keep a look out for any spelling errors, typos, or incongruencies–as even A.I can make mistakes. 
‍

‍Rounding Out
Enhanced writing capabilities allow for a streamlined way to advance your writing. It is a great way to get ideas for your writing or offer a lift on your content generation load requiring little expertise from the user. Abuse of this tool can lead to increased risk of fraud or misleading audiences as to who the author of the writing is.

‍

4. Dedicated Researcher

Another hyped benefit of A.I is its research capabilities. Through the use of prompts, you can use the tool to pull articles and data on a relevant topic. It will scrub through varying sources and pull information out into summarized blocks from each source to help you get a quick idea on what you are looking for. You might ask: what’s the difference between this and just using tried-and-true Google? With an A.I program like ChatGPT, you can continue to build atop of prompts to refine your search. For example, you can ask it to show sources only from a set location or timeframe, and you’ll be able to see the list of all your queries and results in one page. You’ll also be able to see a list of all the sources it pulled from and ask it questions about the relevancy or validity of the sources.

Side Effects
As A.I tools pull from sources that are inherently created by humans, you still have to keep in mind the validity of these sources and do cross-checking to make sure that they are truly valid. The machine learning algorithm can only pull information based on how it interprets the prompts you provide. By asking clarifying questions or adding specific language, you would be able to help guide it to the correct conclusions you are desiring from it.
‍

‍Rounding Out
‍A.I is a great way to consolidate your research process and offers a more refined way to obtain data and information, compared to your standard Google search. With A.I, you’ll also be able transform the data you received into an article or essay through the use of prompts. As long as you make sure that the information pulled is relevant and accurate, you have access to essentially an instant research paper tool.

‍

5. A Chat Buddy

Need someone to talk to or bounce ideas off of? Try chatting with an A.I. This isn’t an entirely new idea and has been a long hyped feature of A.I. With predecessors such as Apple’s Siri or Google’s Alexa, having a voice assistant that you can converse with has long since established itself as a feature that is here to stay. Now with more advanced A.I models, like ChatGPT, you have expanded functionalities and data available so that your conversations with these models are more robust. You can ask them about the weather, their opinion on a piece of writing you made, discuss philosophy, and more.
‍
Side Effects
Machines are great at simulating human conversations, but still have their limitations. As they are built by humans and are conversing based on the refinement of the language learning model they are built on, if their library of information they pull from is flawed or limited–this could lead to bias, confusion or error from the A.I, or just a dissatisfying conversation. Although it can offer great insight, it by no means can replace a licensed professional in matters of therapy, medical advice, and legal advice–approach these matters with caution and always refer to a professional in the respective domain to handle these issues.
‍

Rounding Out
With A.I, you now have access to an instant chat buddy that can offer intelligent, knowledgeable, and quick insight at your fingertips. It misses out on some of the nuances that come with the natural flow of conversation and ideas in human-to-human interactions, so keeping in mind that at the end of the day you interacting with a machine will hopefully keep your expectations managed.

‍

Hungry?

A.I., the tech superfood, offers a plethora of benefits for the common and experienced user. It still is an emerging tool, and therefore has a long way to go before becoming a household staple. Despite this reality, A.I is a powerful asset that can enhance your human experience and offer some much needed help when in a pinch. Consider adding this superfood to your daily tech diet and experience the benefits yourself–but be careful, side effects can occur, so make sure to consult with a tech expert to make sure A.I is right for you. You can do so here 🙂.