If you search Google for things related to artificial intelligence (AI), you’ll find headlines such as “Top 75 AI Tools of 2023” and “34 Ways AI Will Revolutionize Work as We Know It.”

While the possibilities and use cases are exciting, they can also be immensely overwhelming. It’s easy to get swept up in AI and where it’s headed, but the tools also provide a massive opportunity.

Let’s talk about AI and how it can be used practically to enhance your work.

Is AI taking over?

As exciting as AI is, there are rumblings of fear as well. Will AI take over jobs? Will it replace the human aspect of the world?

It’s certainly true that AI is indeed capable of doing many tasks that humans have done for years. But it’s not enough to look at that myopically.

AI does well to free people to do uniquely human work. Computers are great at working where there is a defined set of parameters. They do well to follow a plan.

AI, even with all its power, has its limitations. But when a task requires discernment, the human brain is still the premier tool for the job.

With AI covering or assisting with a variety of tasks, human employees are free to dream and put their minds to work. That way, strategizing, empathizing, innovating, and similar key functions can be focused upon with more brain power.

Used intentionally, AI can save your company time and money. And even add a little more fun to your working life. Let’s look at how you can figure out where to apply it.

How to best use artificial intelligence

Deciding where and how to use AI is perhaps more important than the tool itself. Here are a few areas in which you can use AI to make an immediate impact on your work.

Tedious Tasks

With all sorts of new tools and programs available online, you’re more able than ever to employ AI to do the tedious aspects of a project.

For example, in writing blog posts like this, there’s a lot more to it than just writing. Sometimes ideas strike you over the head and spark inspiration. But other times, it seems like there aren’t any ideas within seven miles.

AI can lend a helping hand. And then after the fact, it can help you edit, too! You better believe I’ll be looking at my Grammarly score after I write this draft!

Sticky Problems

AI can help developers identify and fix software bugs much more efficiently than sifting through the code yourself. By analyzing large datasets of code, AI models can learn to identify patterns in the code that may be indicative of a bug.

Additionally, AI models can assist with code refactoring, which involves improving the structure and efficiency of existing code. Refactoring can be a time-consuming and error-prone process, but AI can help identify opportunities for refactoring and even suggest specific code changes.

Problems like this can be quickly and efficiently solved by asking AI, such as ChatGPT, to assess. A quick copy and paste later, it’s solved and you can carry on.

Coding challenges can be solved with AI as can many other technical issues. It can save you hours. More importantly, it saves you frustration and preserves your brain power.

Planning for Success

They say that all great achievements start with a plan. Not sure who said that, but I’m pretty sure that bit of wisdom is floating around out there.

Whatever your goals, personally or as a company, you need to establish a plan to get you there. AI can be your best friend here. Think of it as your success consultant.

Explain what you want, what metrics you want to hit, and what your capabilities are, and let AI take over. I’ve even seen that AI can generate pretty good workout programs. So much for paying your personal trainer!

AI can make the plan, but you’ll have to step in to carry it out.

Long story short

Yes, AI has the power to do some really awesome things. Yes, it may shift the way we work. And absolutely yes, it opens doors for humans to do bigger, better work as a result.

We are at the precipice of an exciting time. As with anything that threatens change, it can be hard to make sense of. The best thing we can do is keep exploring the possibilities of AI and think about leveraging AI to supplement and enhance our work.

Differential: Your AI guide

At Differential, we’ve helped category leaders leverage predictive analytics, machine learning, and big data to drive business results. New emerging AI tools open new possibilities for businesses to improve processes, products, and services. But the landscape can be daunting.

We’ve help countless companies go through a structured innovation process to rapidly unlock value and align on strategic solutions. Let’s talk about adding value through AI to your business.