Ryan Snarr
Content Lead
Serving Your Customers with AI
Unless you truly disconnect from all things digital, you’re likely to see evidence, or mention, of some form of AI on a daily basis. This technology is being explored from every aspect of business from customer service to sales. AI is here to stay. How are you feeling about it? Here we’ll explore why it is making its way into our way of doing business and how using it effectively benefits businesses and their customers.
Artificial Intelligence is…
“…making a machine behave in ways that would be called intelligent if a human were behaving”
John McCarthy – Computer Scientest who coined the term Artifiial Intelligence in 1955.
The idea of AI has been around for over a half century, but given the fact that we all run around with tiny computers in our pockets and purses, its effects today are far more reaching than conversations amongst computer scientists. Within the topic are other subsets, like Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL), that range in complexity and capability. For all intents and purposes, we’ll lump it all under the banner of AI as we explore how it can have an influence on our efficiency, creativity and education.
…Is on my list.
For whatever reason, I love a good list. A nice long list of 100 items warms my heart. I pride myself in making lists quickly for things both trivial and noteworthy. From my 100 favorite movies to 100 cherished memories, I’ve searched the corridors of my brain to be proficient and thorough on a variety of random topics.
The tables turned when I discovered that anyone could generate similar lists using Chat GPT and get their results faster than they could pick up a notebook and a pencil.
These AI generated lists can be objective and factual, but they can ALSO be something completely original. Try asking it ‘100 ways to say I love you incorporating dad jokes and tacos’. I can then refine or tweak that list with subsequent prompts. It’s not just lists either. You can write prompts to create jokes, computer code, images and advice. Results are returned in seconds. AI is doing for our brains what the microwave did for our dinner, but with AI you can insert an Italian pasta and get out a Chinese stir fry if you’d like. The bottom line is this AI assistance acts fast which adds speed and efficiency to whatever you’re doing. Customers love efficiency. It saves them time and money they can then redirect elsewhere.
A sub sandwhich that is made to look like a high-end baskteball shoe
Diversified thinking
Not only will AI unlock opportunities in efficiency, but for a visual person like myself, it can be a lot of fun to use in the image generation space. Any crazy combination you can think of can be spat out of an AI platform lickety split. This proves to be a fantastic way to brainstorm for yourself, or others.
Mona Lisa driving a Formula One car across a race track with cinnamon roll pavement. The moon is smiling overhead.
In some cases, designers like Seva Simone are even touting the idea that their effective use of AI has led them across an evermore thorough landscape of ideas to develop their product. Much like populating completely original lists, this visual, computer-generated output can be created quickly.
However, speed isn’t always what makes these images the most valuable. These images often depict subjects in a way you wouldn’t necessarily have imagined. Harnessing the range of diversity AI can make available to you serves the creative process. This has trickle-down benefits for customers paying for creative services. Not only can they feel confident you’ve brainstormed thoughtfully in predictable pastures of thought, but they also benefit from diverse outside-the-box thinking aided by AI assistance.
An AI Education
If efficiency and creative diversity weren’t enough to get you implementing aspects of AI into your world, let education be the thing that tips the scales. Heck, go ahead and just ask Chat GPT how you can incorporate it to benefit your life. It’ll come up with a list of things to sell its services to you. This fast track toward self education can pay off in step-by-step tutorials or references to validated sources of information.
Quick Tip: To add to your AI experience when writing image prompts, consider the ‘Subject > Details > Style’ model. Try to be as specific as possible without being too wordy. Your results will be more predictable the more clear-cut your prompt is.
Example: A dog > silk screen, cartoon, comic book, Egyptian, 1800s > chasing a mailman.
Design a dress with luxurious
European vintage style.
AI’s source
In a previous blog post, we teased the idea of reverse searching images we created through AI engines to find where the inspiration stemmed from. Unfortunately, there were no decipherable exact matches or direct ties to artists or images that could clearly explain all the computer’s decisions.
Here is a screenshot of something AI kicked over to us on the left in the black border. To the right you see images that popped up when we did a reverse image search. While there are some similar characteristics in cartoonish cows, we don’t see one particular style or color palette modeled entirely. Subsequent searches yielded similar results.
Harnessing AI for the overall good
Through personal use and even in composing thoughts for this article, I’ve confirmed once again for myself the incredible potential AI has as a fixture in our society. I really should be determining how I could use it more. I do get a sense however, that this innovation’s positive societal contribution must be unlocked carefully. Much like harnessing the power of fire, its use should be bridled since those in control are fallible human beings. Influencer @ElleCordova illustrates this with humor in this YouTube short titled, ‘Inventions Hanging Out’. Did you feel what I felt at the end when ‘AI’ looked directly into the camera?
