The field of computer science known as “artificial intelligence” (AI) has been developing for decades. In recent years, we have witnessed several breakthrough moments, such as the creation of the AlphaZero model in 2017, which achieved grandmaster level in chess and Go, and the development of the Transformer architecture in the same year, which underpins numerous language processing models. However, the release of the GPT-3.5 model as a chatbot, ChatGPT, on November 30, 2022, brought AI into the public eye. The use of AI has become widespread in private life and the search for business applications to save time, streamline processes, and increase profits.
It is important to note that the use of AI-based algorithms (or more precisely, machine learning) for business applications has been ongoing for at least several years. Common examples include systems recommending ads or other content to internet users, predictive systems in financial institutions, and image detection algorithms in industry. Although these algorithms continue to evolve, companies are far from fully utilizing AI’s potential.
Therefore, in this article, I will not only present how to use generative artificial intelligence (such as ChatGPT or Midjourney) in your company but also describe more broadly how to approach identifying areas that can be improved by various types of AI algorithms.
Familiarize Yourself with Basic AI Tools
It is worth starting your AI journey by reviewing the available tools. There are already quite a few, each serving very different applications. Here are some examples.
Adobe Firefly is an advanced tool for generating and editing graphics, ideal for marketing and design departments. Synthesia, on the other hand, allows you to create videos with generated voices and characters, which is a great solution for producing training materials and presentations.
ChatGPT and Gemini are versatile tools that can help you create marketing content, handle customer service, respond to emails, or generate ideas. Grammarly, in turn, helps improve grammar and writing style, which is invaluable when creating high-quality marketing content and reports.
Turbologo and Logopony are logo-generation tools that can speed up the process of creating your company’s visual identity. Canva offers a wide range of design tools, including those using generative AI models. You can create high-quality graphics with Midjourney or Leonardo.ai. If you need background music, check out Suno.
Tools such as Slides AI, Presentations AI, Pitch, and Beautiful.AI enable the creation of attractive presentations with automatic formatting, which can significantly save time and improve the visual quality of presented materials.
Do not forget to use meeting transcription tools like OtterAI, and text summarization systems like SummarizeBot.
For research teams, Scite.AI offers advanced capabilities for searching scientific information and significantly speeds up the research process.
It is worth experimenting with various tools to find those that best meet the needs of your business. They will certainly increase the efficiency of your employees. However, using these tools is just the beginning of AI possibilities in your company!
Experiment with Generative Systems
You have probably heard that to obtain high-quality results from generative models, it is crucial to write appropriate prompts. Relying only on short and intuitive prompts, you will quickly find that the responses generated by the tools are quite standard and repetitive. They are likely not to meet your company’s needs.
Therefore, the next step will be to try and experiment with different prompts. This will help you better understand the capabilities and limitations of AI systems. You will also quickly learn the basic characteristics of AI algorithms:
- A well-applied AI algorithm can save significant working time for your employees and ensure that their work is done better and more accurately.
- An AI algorithm must have a precisely defined task that it performs.
- Generic, general AI systems usually need to be heavily tailored to your company’s specific problem to provide significant benefits.
- The use of an AI system must be integrated into your company’s processes and IT systems (through proper data flow) to ensure its use is convenient and time-efficient, and most importantly, to keep your company’s data secure.
- The final AI solution is created through trial and error, through experiments.
- An AI systemnever works with one hundred percent accuracy, so you must consider handling errors and hallucinations (or simply consciously ignore them).
Build Your Assistants
After initial trials, which are more for fun than serious applications, you can start creating more advanced (yet still quick to build) AI solutions for your business.
This could involve creating a good prompt (i.e., an instruction for the model) and saving it for repeated use. For example, this could be an instruction for social media posts, where you define your brand’s style, requirements for post length, and possible use of emojis, or hashtags.
In many tools (e.g., in Chat GPT), you can also upload files in various formats—whether spreadsheets (XLSX), documents (PDF, DOCX), or images (JPG). In this way, you will build agents for managing knowledge in your company, for instance, regarding employee information or quickly searching for information to respond to a client.
Explore the Capabilities of Other AI Groups
Generative models represent just a small part of the wide array of AI algorithms available. Likely, they do not fully leverage the potential inherent in the data collected by your company. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore other classes of models to consider their use in your business.
Remember, using these models typically requires building a custom AI system by a Data Science team. Alternatively, you can opt for low-code or no-code tools where individuals without advanced programming skills can also create customized AI systems.
The most important types of non-generative (“traditional”) AI include:
Computer Vision
These algorithms typically take images or videos as input. Their outputs can range from classification and object detection (identifying objects using colored rectangles, for instance) to semantic segmentation—detecting entire areas of an image and labeling pixels representing specific objects.
Example of object detection and segmentation: (https://manipulation.csail.mit.edu/segmentation.html)
Image processing algorithms find wide applications across various industries. In manufacturing, they are used for quality control, monitoring production processes, and resource management. In medical diagnostics, they enable the analysis of X-ray images, MRIs, and other scans, aiding in the rapid detection of diseases and anomalies. Retail utilizes these technologies for customer behavior analysis, inventory management, and personalized offers.
Recommendation Systems
Crucial in e-commerce, streaming services, and digital marketing, recommendation systems analyze user preferences and behaviors to provide personalized recommendations for products, content, or services, thereby enhancing customer engagement and loyalty.
Predictive and Clustering Systems
Predictive algorithms analyze historical data to forecast future events, invaluable in sectors such as finance, logistics, and resource management. Clustering algorithms help identify patterns and segment data, beneficial in market analysis and customer management.
Optimization Systems
Optimization systems use AI algorithms to manage processes, resources, and logistics in the most efficient manner possible. They can significantly reduce operational costs and increase business efficiency. Examples include warehouse management, route planning for deliveries, production scheduling, machine and resource utilization optimization, and waste reduction.
Exploring these diverse AI capabilities can provide insights into how they can be effectively integrated into your business processes, enhancing productivity and decision-making across various domains.
Conduct Exploratory Workshops and Build an AI Culture
Harnessing the potential of AI in your company can greatly benefit from conducting exploratory workshops and cultivating an AI culture. These initiatives help teams better understand the capabilities offered by AI and how these technologies can be adapted to specific business needs.
Exploratory workshops are interactive sessions designed to identify areas within the company where artificial intelligence can bring the greatest benefits. During these workshops, employees from different departments collaborate to understand which problems can be solved using AI and what new opportunities AI can open up.
The introduction to workshops typically begins with a review of basic AI concepts, allowing participants to better grasp the concepts and terminology. Subsequently, specific use cases of AI in industries similar to your company’s are analyzed. In the next stage, participants identify their own business challenges and needs that can be addressed using AI, and then collectively develop initial ideas for solutions.
Building an AI culture within the company also requires creating an environment that supports innovation and continuous learning. It is crucial to promote openness to new technologies and encourage employees to experiment with AI tools. Additionally, company leaders should actively support AI-related initiatives and lead by example through involvement in AI implementation projects.
Moving towards Larger Deployments
Customized AI solutions typically require much larger financial investments compared to simple AI tools, which are often free or cost a few hundred złotys per month. The cost of developing such solutions can range from tens to hundreds of thousands of złotys.
However, if you have a well-defined problem and a Proof-of-Concept that demonstrates the AI system meets your expectations, the benefits can appear quickly in the form of increased sales by several to several dozen percent, savings on losses, or savings of thousands of work hours for your employees.
Summary
Artificial intelligence in business encompasses a wide range of approaches. You can start with initial attempts on your own using ready-made tools that are free or very low cost. However, if you’re looking for something more advanced and tailored to your company’s specific needs, you should be prepared for higher costs and seek the assistance of technical experts. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your ideas further, feel free to reach out!
