When you hear the term artificial intelligence, where does your mind go?

For a sci-fi geek like me I go straight to the likes of Skynet from the Terminator movies, or the machine world in The Matrix franchise. Perhaps that’s me getting a little carried away!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been researching the potential of AI in the real world, and what this means to the ‘average Joe’, like you and me. 

I’m talking about the non-experts in your teams, in supporting or operational roles, who will gain huge productivity and engagement benefits from harnessing AI. 

Why AI is for everyone

However, like anything, it all starts with mindset (how many times have I said that in my blogs!?).

AI is not just for marketing and tech experts, no matter what you read or see on LinkedIn. It’s for everyone, right now, and I'll tell you why.

But let’s start with the most important question: Have you experimented with it yet? 

No? It's easy. Just follow these steps.

AI is not just for marketing and tech experts, no matter what you read or see on LinkedIn. It’s for everyone, right now

Time to experiment

Search on Google the name of the AI service you’d like to try. I went with the well-known ChatGPT-4. Go ahead and set up a free account and start by asking it any question. 

As I was researching a LinkedIn learning module on this very topic, the first question I asked was: “Explain how to use AI for office workers in simple terms”.

I received a list of seven items with a descriptor, to which I thought, ‘not a bad start, although a little long’. 

I then popped in the word ‘summarise’ not knowing if that was enough; however, I was pleased to receive a paragraph summary of my previous answer.

How easy is that?

Important considerations

It’s worth flagging that before you run off automating all your processes, or having AI write all your content, you need to consider digital ethics and integrity, eg. the moral framework of using digital tools, and the supporting behaviours that sit beneath this. 

This has an impact on key items such as data protection, social media usage, HR policies and much more. 

Before you run off automating all your processes, or having AI write all your content, you need to consider digital ethics and integrity

Key conversations

A conversation with HR is absolutely needed. And you probably have an IT function with a specific AI product owner.

Speak to them to understand:

1. What is your organisational stance on AI? 
2. What AI services are compliant with this stance?
3. What type of information can be used?
4. What details can be input and how is this quality assured by your organisation?
5. What is your digital and behavioural framework that employees need to adhere to?

I’m sure there are other key items you might want to consider, but these questions are a good place to start.

You can also see what other companies are doing around this. 

Have a look at organisations such as Charity Digital – they have put together a framework to describe how people should be considering digital behaviours and what this means for working with technologies such as AI. 

Back to ChatGPT-4

I bet there are people in your organisation already using AI for things such as:

• Automating repetitive tasks: such as data entry or file organisation
• Document creation: helping with tasks like design and build of policies and documents, reporting writing or compliance monitoring
• Data analysis and insights: processing vast amounts of data quickly and providing meaningful insights by identifying trends and predicting future outcomes.
• Idea creation: brainstorming and requesting ideas, pros and cons, text and content

When you ask Chat GPT-4 a question, you get an answer in seconds. 

As designers and deliverers of learning content, this is right up our street. 

You can ask it to write an L&D policy, create a report that suggests insight from key evaluation data, or draft the content for a specific budget presentation you need to deliver

How rosy is the garden of AI?

Ask it to write a training module overview and you get 10 key points pop up which tend to be what you would be looking for. 

You can ask it to write an L&D policy, create a report that suggests insight from key evaluation data, or draft the content for a specific budget presentation you need to deliver.

Happy days, right?

Well not everything is rosy in the AI garden as yet.

AI still needs humans

What's missing is the humanising of the script. 

The examples, the storytelling, and lived experience elements are just not there. 

I asked it for examples and what I got back was very fact-based stats, and nothing practical, emotive, or real. 

AI still needs a human to bring the content to life.

But I must insist you get onto an AI service and give it a go. 

You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how it can make your life easier, and by understanding this, you will feel more confident talking to stakeholders about the possibilities.

And I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that we are still a long way from Judgement Day….!

If you enjoyed this, read: The Rise of the Chatbots: Five ways AI will enhance L&D