Should I Use AI?

Well, yes… to an extent, and with several points of consideration. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it, it’s going to take over a lot of the mundane tasks that we have been doing ourselves since the beginning of the digital age, and for some that is a big relief, to others it is a cause for concern around job security, data security and a change to the way we work.

1. What to use it for:

1.1 Code to run in a testing environment

ChatGPT can be very helpful when it comes to writing code, for example PowerShell scripts. It creates well formatted and notarised code based on your requirement, it can also help diagnosing issues and error codes that you may be faced with, and to debug code. What you must take into consideration is that although it may confidently announce that it’s code will be what it says, this may not be the case. Anything that is created by an AI should only be run in a Test or Development environment to make sure it does what it says it will do, and nothing else. You wouldn’t run a script that you found on a forum in a production environment without testing it thoroughly, so an AI generated code is no different. 

1.2 Getting initial Ideas for copy and content

By now I’m sure we are all aware of the reports of students simply asking ChatGPT to write their assignments for them and I’m sure many people have done the same in a corporate setting, looking like you’re churning out well written content on a range of subjects to be put out as blogs or social media posts, training information, how to guides and the like. While this sounds like a real time saver, this has the potential to put out a lot of un-checked and inaccurate information, while it may look and read well and come across as correct, these AI models are built to output engaging conversation and accuracy of information or even context could be a secondary thought. With services such as ZeroGPT, AI written content can be easily detected and not actually taking the time to research and understand the topic that you are writing content about could leave you in a difficult situation if you are required to speak on the subject or take on work that is relevant to the particular field. 

I know many people who use AI, myself included and there is a balance needed, what is the hardest part about writing an assignment? A piece of content, or a blog post? – It’s thinking of what to cover and where to begin. This is where something like ChatGPT can really help. Asking it to essentially “brainstorm” ideas and topics to cover, how to structure the document and what to research to do in preparation really gives you a nudge in the right direction, even if you have asked it to give you an example of what to write, take it, break it down and start to go through it piece by piece, carefully researching each part to make sure it is correct and that you understand what you are writing about. Re-write every part of it alongside the initial draft and make sure it’s in your own words. The result will be a much more unique piece of work with verified information and you as the author would have gained more knowledge in the area. 

I have included an example of this later in the article!

1.3 Excel formulas

One way I personally use ChatGPT almost daily is to come up with Excel formulas, I use it less now as I have committed most of the formulas that I frequently use to memory, however if I’m not sure how to achieve something, or if a formula exists, rather than trawling through old forums and google searches, ChatGPT has been very good at analysing my requests to the precise cells that I need the formula to relate to and giving me (on most occasions) the exact thing that I was looking for. On occasion it will misunderstand but can often correct itself if you explain what went wrong. At the very least it will get you most of the way there and you can then tweak it to fit your exact needs, this is sometimes a limitation as you would not want to enter in any corporate information or any of the actual cell contents.

1.4 Help with troubleshooting approaches

The more advanced AI becomes, the better it is getting at doing the research that would otherwise take a human several hours of trawling through Google results. Some can now show you the source material that its answer is based on, which can be invaluable. Asking for something like “What can I do to approach this problem”, “Can you give me a list of ideas to help troubleshoot this error”, can be great questions to ask if you aren’t sure where to start and a google search hasn’t proven helpful.

1.5 Audio & Video Content Creation:

When recording content, it’s unlikely that you will have access to high level equipment, or a working knowledge of audio and video production, let alone the time to take out of your work schedule to gain these skills. AI can help to bridge the gap and augment your creation workflow in a few different ways, such as: 

1.5.1 Improve the quality of your audio recordings:

We’ve all seen the training videos where the production was clearly an afterthought, very poor audio quality, background noise (maybe it was filmed in an office space), or worst of all for me, that “boxy” sound of the room they are recorded in. This makes it difficult to understand at times and certainly harder to remain engaged. This isn’t the fault of the creator, but it could be easily improved using an AI tool, such as: Adobe Podcast (https://podcast.adobe.com/). I have created a short 5-minute video demonstrating how to utilise this tool.

1.5.2 Create audio and video to go over your article:

Sometimes an excellent addition to a written piece of content is a visual aid, and a voiceover. This is something that would likely take as long to create yourself as the article, blog, or training document. Let’s take a look at an AI tool that can do it for you!

1.5.2.1 Pictory:

Link: https://app.pictory.ai/

Pictory is an AI tool that allows you to turn a script, or existing article into a video, with generated images and a voiceover, it allows you to alter either to best suit your requirements. You have the option to add your own visuals / images and the ability to record and sync your own voice over the top of your content.  

Let’s take a look at what happened when I fed the beginning of this article into Pictory:  

2. What not to use it for:

2.1 Creating entire documents

It’s certainly a bad idea to just have AI create an entire document for you, you don’t gain anything from this and neither does your target audience. While it may seem like a real time saver, it’s always worth actually understanding the subject matter that you are documenting and standing out from the crowd with your own writing style. If everyone starts using AI to create their documentation then how could you differentiate your article, or content from anyone everyone else’s? 

2.2 Anything that involves personal or corporate data

In the not too distant future we will likely see a massive rise of “in-house” AI solutions that will give the ability to work with sensitive information limited to the boundaries of your organisation (such as Microsoft Co-Pilot), but when using publicly available solutions, such as ChatGPT, any information that you enter into it will be added to it’s knowledgebase, this could cause serious security concerns over personal information or corporate data being leaked. This is where learning how to correctly use AI and establishing guidelines for anyone who will be using it comes into play. While the principles surrounding data governance and information security (such as a standard like Cyber Security Essentials, or ISO27001) are often generalised would therefore cover these new AI services. Having a specific set of guidelines or a policy in place will help to highlight the gravity of the risks to both the individual and the company involved with using some of these services incorrectly, or irresponsibly.

2.3 Anything that is going to be run in a live environment

Probably the worst thing you can do is take the word of an AI as gospel and launch right into a production environment using information or code that has been generated by an AI and has not been tested. While it may look correct, well written and formatted, but you can never be sure what might happen if it is ever so slightly incorrect, even if you’re an expert and are just looking to save the time it would take to write the code yourself. 

3. Demo and analysis of AI generated content Piece on the same subject matter

As an example, I have generated content using Chat GPT for the subject matter covered in this article, let’s review what it has created:

Title: “Harnessing AI: Boosting Productivity While Navigating Ethical Boundaries” 

Introduction: In the age of digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool that can revolutionise the way we work and create content. From generating code snippets to crafting compelling content pieces and even managing social media posts, AI can be a valuable ally. However, as we delve into the world of AI-driven productivity, it is essential to strike a balance between innovation and ethical considerations. In this article, we explore how AI can be used to enhance various aspects of content creation and social media management, while also highlighting the ethical concerns that must be addressed.

Here we can see that ChatGPT has created an introduction and a conclusion for me and then suggested several segments and talking points for the body of the piece, leaving me to do the research and choose what I would like to focus on.  

I could have asked it to create the whole piece for me after this, however, after reading the first half of my article, it’s clear that my writing style is very different to how this segment is presented – it would stick out a mile when compared to anything else I have produced. Yet using it as a base to draw ideas from has been extremely helpful, there’s nothing worse than staring at a blank page and hoping some ideas come to you, or diving into sporadic research hoping something catches your attention. Having this base to work from means I still need to do the work, conduct the research, write the piece, check the data etc, it’s still my creation, yet the inception was the initial information and topics provided by AI, many of which I hadn’t even considered and only furthered my interest into researching the topic – and coming up with other content not mentioned in the initial ideas. 

I hope this has sparked some interest and will lead you to find your own uses for AI, both personally and professionally. 

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