Saving Time with AI

When people talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), they often think of robots or computers that can think and act like humans. However, this isn't the only type of AI out there. Automation, while often mistaken for AI, is simply the use of technology to perform tasks automatically without human intervention.

A washing machine may have an automatic setting for a certain type of fabric, but it can't learn new information or adapt to changing circumstances like true AI can.

An automatic car will only shift gears when a certain set of conditions are met. On the other hand, an autonomous driving vehicle is always collecting data and making its own decisions while on the road. If the roads are clear, it will drive itself. If there's traffic, it will slow down and make room for other vehicles.

If I think only about AI it is interesting to see just how much AI is impacting on my life, at home and work.

In both my home and office I have a Google Assistant. In my office, I use it as a speaker. But at home, I will often shout out from the dinner table "Hey Google" and ask it a question. Google Assistant is an AI that takes my question and searches the internet for answers. About 50% of the time it then blurts out an answer that contradicts what I have just told my family.

I could link my Google Home devices (or Alexa) to a network of other devices to turn on/off lights, control the heating and open curtains.

In my office, I have a robot floor cleaner that has learnt the layout of my office. At 6 am each morning (weekdays only) vacuums the floor and returns itself to its charging station.

The most powerful AI used in my office is Jasper.ai. This is a copywriting tool that uses GPT-3. GPT-3 is an open-source project, that has been fed about 10% of the internet as learning data and has learnt how to understand words and output words. It is a "proper" AI because it has learned how to do this and continues to learn more and get better. Jasper.ai is a copywriting tool that uses GPT-3. GPT-3 has been fed about 10% of the internet as learning data and has learnt how to understand words and output words. It is a "proper" AI because it has learned how to do this and continues to learn more and get better.

What this means for me is that I can now take a topic, input it into Jasper, and receive a well-written piece of content in return. No more spending hours trying to find the right words or worrying about grammar mistakes

But that's not all Jasper can do. It can also help with blog posts, social media posts, video scripts, and even the answers to questions posted online

In short, Jasper helps me save time on content writing so I can focus on other aspects of my business.

There is also something interesting called Jasper Art. Without boring you with technical detail, some bright spark decided it would be a good idea to describe images in words. Do that 12 billion times and pass it through a machine learning neural network and you get a AI that can understand words and output images.

If you have written a blog post, with Jasper or manually, you can have Jasper Art generate images that you own and can use in your website and social posts.

The final AI tool that I use multiple times per week is Descript. This is a video editing tool that allows me to upload or record audio and/or video. Descript generates a transcript of the audio that I can edit like a word document. This edits the underlying video. No more trying to learn complete video editing packages like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier. The really spooky feature of this AI is that you can train it to produce your voice. So if you have misspoken in a video or said the wrong words, you can overtype the right words and the audio says them, in your voice.

The real power of Descript for me, as a small business owner, is it makes video editing a task I can do easily and quickly without needing to employ a video editor. Perfect for short social reels and stories.

There are thousands o automation tools and hundreds of mini-AI tools available at the moment. Many of them are not quite useful. Very nearly there. They just need to knit together in a more useful workflow.

My prediction, or perhaps desire, is an AI tool to control AI tool. I think in the near future there will be personal assistants that you can talk to who will go to other tools to get the jobs done at the lowest costs. Think Jarvis from Marvel.

As a small business owner, I rely on AI tools to help me save time and effort. These tools include Google Home devices, robot floor cleaners, Jasper.ai (a copywriting tool), Jasper Art (an image-generating AI), and Descript (a video editing AI). What I find most useful about these tools is that they are all easy to use and can be integrated into my workflow with little effort. In the near future, I predict that we will see even more powerful AI tools become available that will make our lives even easier.